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BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 




Class iUT< g/ (o I 

Book JxJL fj 2 5* 



GopyriglitN 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT: 



MacGREGOR'S book 
OF BANK ADVERTISING 



BY 

T. D. MacGREGOR 

Author of "The Book of Thrift," "Bank Advertising Experience," 
and "The New Business Department" 



NEW YORK 
BANKERS PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1921 



& 



Copyright, 1921 
BANKERS PUBLISHING CO. 



raV 25 1921 

#4* 



g)C!.A630589 



s*Z 



INTRODUCTION 

In revising and combining the material in several of my previous 
books on bank advertising to form the basis of this new and larger 
volume, I have endeavored to preserve all of the most worthwhile 
ic'-as while discarding others which the passage of time and changed 
conditions have rendered of less present value. In addition, a good 
deal of new material has been included from articles written by the 
author for "The Bankers Magazine" and "The Burroughs Clearing 
House." 

While it is to be hoped that wartime conditions will never again 
prevail in this country, nevertheless it seems desirable to include in 
the pages of this book reproductions of a few bank advertisements of 
the war period. The war was a stimulus to bank advertising. The 
banks and trust companies co-operated very efficiently with the Gov- 
ernment in financing our share in it. The Liberty Loan and War 
Savings campaigns opened the eyes of many bankers to the possibil- 
ities of advertising. Therefore, a brief consideration of that adver- 
tising in retrospect cannot help but prove of interest and value to 
those who have to do with the publicity of their institutions. 

Advertising, once looked upon by some business men as an expense, 
is now quite generally regarded in its proper light — as an investment. 

The primary purpose of most advertising is to increase business. 

Some advertising is done with other objects in view, but in most 
cases now-a-days every dollar spent in advertising is expected to come 
back, sooner or later, bringing many others with it. 

Advertising is by no means a fixed science. There are no set rules 
the observance of which will insure success to the advertiser. 

But experience is a good teacher, and it need not all be your own 
experience. In the past few years there has been a wonderful advance 
in advertising knowledge, and progress has been made in the facilities 
for the preparation and distribution of advertising matter to such an 
extent that advertising means much more than it did even a decade ago. 

The fundamental principles involved in financial advertising do 
not differ from those of advertising in general. However, there are 
some things in financial publicity that require special emphasis. 
Hence this book. 

All advertising should be confidence inspiring, but, more than any 



iv INTRODUCTION 

other class of advertising, that of financial or investment institutions 
must have this quality. 

When a man turns over his money to the care of another and in 
return gets for the time being nothing more tangible than a promise 
to return it with interest at some future time, he needs the strongest 
kind of assurance concerning the integrity and business ability of the 
men who make such a proposition to him. 

A good deal has been said about the necessity for dignity in financial 
advertising. It is right, there should be dignity, and the chief reason 
is because that helps to inspire confidence. 

At the same time the advertising must not be so dignified that it 
lacks in human interest, persuasiveness and the power of conviction. 
In short, the problem is how to combine the right amount of dignity 
with the requisite ' ' pulling power. ' ' 

The value of advertising is not to be measured only by the direct 
returns from advertisements. 

Honest, continuous advertising and making good on promises helps 
to create for advertisers good will — an asset of intangible but very 
real value. 

There are many other things that go to create and maintain pres- 
tige or good will for a business, but the right kind of advertising is the 
principal means to that end. 

While it cannot be measured by the yard stick nor expressed in 
dollars and cents, good will has an acknowledged value. A recent 
court decision placed a valuation of $1,000,000 upon the trademark 
of a certain very large advertiser. A considerable expenditure for 
general advertising, continued over a period of years, gave that trade- 
mark its great value. 

It will work just the same in your business if you are a persistent 
advertiser and everybody connected with your institution uses his 
best efforts to carry out the promises of courteous and considerate 
treatment made in the advertising. All employes must have a proper 
conception of the importance of each customer's good will and a 
sincere desire to gain it. 

There is such a thing as the cumulative effect of continuous adver- 
tising. The first time a person reads your advertisement he may not 
be in a position to act favorably upon the suggestion you make. In 
fact, he may not be ready for months, but if you have kept your name 
before the public and used your advertising space to good advantage 
by filling it with interesting, informing, convincing copy, frequently 
changed, you have held that man's attention and when he is pre- 
pared to do as you suggest you are very likely to get his business. 

There is a secondary advertising of much value that comes to the 



INTRODUCTION v 

regular and steady advertiser. It arises from the daily talk of the 
community when the name of your institution or company has become 
a household word through persistent publicity. When you have 
reached a point where the people take up your advertising and volun- 
tarily help to make your business better known, you are fortunate 
indeed. 

There are different ways of arriving at how much a bank should 
spend for advertising. It is difficult to lay down any hard and fast 
rule, as conditions alter cases to such an extent. Various arbitrary 
formulas have been devised to determine the size of the advertising 
budget or appropriation. One of them is, one-tenth of one per cent, 
of the deposits for advertising expenditures annually. That seems 
like a good average for an old established institution. In any case, 
a definite plan of advertising ought to be adopted in order to justify 
the expenditure. 

In making up a bank's advertising budget or appropriation, it 
should be remembered that this is an aggregate of what is required 
for the advertising of the various departments, and that the needs 
of each department should be carefully studied before assigning to 
it its proportion of the total advertising appropriation. 

The purpose of the compilation of paragraphs for advertising 
' ' copy ' ' at the ends of several of the chapters in this book is to pro- 
vide a handy compendium of ideas and phrases suitable for use in 
the preparation of financial advertising matter — whether newspaper 
or magazine advertisements, booklets, circulars or "form" letters. 

The points brought out in these paragraphs are largely such as have 
been used by the author in his long experience as a planner, writer 
and supervisor of financial advertising. 

It is scarcely necessary to explain how this material can be used, 
as that will readily suggest itself to the reader who had any occasion 
whatever to use the printed or typewritten page as a means of solicit- 
ing business. 

One way that may not occur to the reader without suggestion, how- 
ever, is to use the volume as a "paragraph book" in dictating Jetters 
in the regular course of business. For this purpose, it will save 
time and secure more effective letters than might otherwise be the case. 

While it is generally conceded that the newspaper is the best adver- 
tising medium for banks and trust companies, there are quite a num- 
ber of institutions which, for one reason or another, do not use the 
advertising columns of the newspapers regularly. In some cases, 
there is no suitable publication in the territory served by the bank. In 
others, the advertising rates seem to be prohibitive as the advertiser is 
forced to pay for a lot of circulation of no benefit to the institution be- 



vi INTRODUCTION 

cause many of the readers are not located where they can conveniently 
deposit at that particular bank. 

And then there are banks that do advertise in newspapers, but feel 
the need also of other forms of publicity to supplement the valuable 
advertising in the daily and weekly press. 

So it comes about that there is quite a field for bank advertising 
ideas, plans and schemes entirely separate from newspaper publicity, 
or only partly dependent upon it. In this book are presented some of 
the best of such plans and ideas as they have been and are being used 
by various kinds of financial institutions in different sections of the 
country. This part of the book is really a composite of the plans and 
successful efforts of a great many keen bankers and bank advertising 
men, and it should be correspondingly helpful. 

T. D. MacGregor. 

Edwin Bird Wilson, Inc., 
New York City, March 15, 1921. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Introduction iii 

I Copy and Typography 1 

II Advertising Mediums . 23 

III Advertising for Commercial Accounts 53 

IV Savings Account Advertising 124 

V Trust Company Advertising 198 

VI Safe Deposit Advertising 235 

VII Bank Emblems 259 

VIII Investment, Real Estate and Insurance Advertising . 268 

IX Effective Soliciting Letters 294 

X Miscellaneous Bank Advertising Ideas 332 



CHAPTER I 

COPY AND TYPOGRAPHY 

YOUR ADVERTISING space costs you a certain amount of 
money. You pay just the same for it whether it is seen and 
read by all the readers of the paper or by only part of them. 
Your object then should be to endeavor to get as nearly 100 per cent, 
circulation for your advertisement as possible. Is it not reasonable 
to say that an advertisement read by 80 per cent, of the possible 
readers is worth twice as much as one read by only 40 per cent.? 
The answer is good copy. If you can't produce it yourself get some- 
body to help you who knows how to handle type, illustration and 
language to get the best possible results from these tools. The addi- 
tional cost will be taken care of by the increased results from the 
advertising. 

Therefore, a study of "copy" and the actual preparation of ad- 
vertising matter naturally precedes the consideration of the broader 
subject of methods and the complete compaign. 

So we begin with a few suggestions on how to write an advertise- 
ment. 

No matter how large the space or the circulation you pay for or how 
favorable the rates you secure, you are not getting your money's 
worth if the copy (i. e., the text matter of the advertisement) is 
weak or defective in any way. 

Copy must do more than fill space. It must ' ' pull, ' ' bring results. 

Good copy is not mechanical. It cannot be ground out of a hopper. 
If it could, there would be no need to study the problem of salesman- 
ship on paper. You could just buy good copy as easily as you can 
printing. 

Financial advertising copy can not be too strong, concise and orig- 
inal. It is not enough for the writer to know the inside facts about 
his particular proposition. 

Indeed, strange as it may seem, you may be too close to your own 
business to realize its strongest advertising points. 

That is the trouble with a good many bankers and other business 
men when it comes to handling their own advertising. 

They do not see themselves and their business as others see them. 

They are so immersed in the inside details of their institution's 

1 



2 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

activities that it is hard for them to look at things from the broader 
standpoint of the disinterested outsider. 

It will pay you to cultivate that valuable "outside" attitude, the 
viewpoint of the disinterested man or woman — your prospective cus- 
tomer. Don't look at the proposition entirely from your standpoint. 
Put yourself in the other fellow's place. 

Emphasize "you" and "your" in the copy, not "we" and "our." 

Get the "you" habit in your advertising. It is polite, and it is 
good business, too. 

The personal element is one of the most effective factors in adver- 
tising, but it must be used with good taste. 

It is all right to read the advertising matter of others for sug- 
gestions, but do not slavishly adapt ideas and phrases that seem to 
fit your case. It is better to be original. Have initiative. Explore 
your own proposition for new ideas. Then express them brightly and 
with all the literary skill you can command. 

Make your advertising interesting and educating. 

THE ACTUAL PREPARATION 

As far as the actual preparation of an advertisement is concerned, 
no fixed rule can be laid down as to detail of method. There are 
as many different ways of doing it as there are successful advertise- 
ment writers. 

Probably no two writers go about it in the same way when they 
sit down to prepare an advertisement. But experience has proved 
the wisdom of certain methods and has established some general 
principles. 

Study every phase of your proposition thoroughly. Then set 
down in black and white all the talking points that occur to you. 

Omit no fact or argument that might possibly be used to ad- 
vantage. 

With this list of talking points, you have your material ready. 
The next step is to outline a plan for the particular piece of adver- 
tising in hand, be it a series of newspaper advertisements, a circular 
or a booklet. 

In a newspaper series the first thing to determine is the size of 
the space to be used. In deciding this point, remember that if you 
have not an appropriation large enough to warrant the continuous use 
of fairly large space, it is better to use a small space regularly and 
frequently than very large space at spasmodic intervals. 

When it is planned to run a complete series, each individual ad- 
vertisement should, if possible, emphazise a different point, although 



COPY AND TYPOGRAPHY 3 

it is well sometimes to summarize other points, the theory being that 
there are always some readers who have not seen preceding advertise- 
ments and who may not see later ones. 

In case of a pure type display advertisement, that is, one in which 




The Old Chambers Street ^Reservoir 
of the MANHATTAN COMPANY 

AMONGthe earliest known srcam engines in America 
/Vwere the two installed by the Manhattan Company 
as part of its water system, with a capacity of 691,200 
galloris a day, which was the first adequate water supply 
in New York Gty. In fact, wherever one opens the 
hi*tc*y of the Bank of the Manhattan Company, one is 
conftortfed by examples of progress ahead of the time; 
by jure grasp of affairs; by far-sighted and sound leader- 
ship. As for tie past 121 years, so today; the depositor, 
the customer of the Bank of the Manhattan Company 
has at his command a Directorate of outstanding men 
in industry, commerce and .finance; and the personal 
services of Officers of long-standing experience. 

Banko/^ 
Manhattan Company 

ESTABLISHED 1799 

40 Wall Street 

Capital £5,000,000 Surplui and Uadnidei Profits $16.146494.10 

UPTOWN OFFICE:-,. Ua'm S<*crc. Nc Y.r. 

QUEENS BOROUGH OFFICES--.!™*., FlrnJtK, L»"J iW«*/C«>. /V *«»...,. 

feeU-M? bciJi. StMidi, RjdmwmJ Hid. EfcwW, Cot***, 0>lt v P»i«. 

KWhra*. gUsrm^. Froi/W 

BROOKLYN OFFICES; -Si. /«*»1 f U* r ndCifn* H<1. 



v1cl presidents 
. James McNeil 
b d. forster 
harry t. hall 

EDWIN S. LAfFBY 
P.A.ROWLEY 
D H P1ERSON 
FRANK L. HILTON 
V. W. SMITH 
JOHK-STEW ART BAKER 

CASHIEH 



H. M. BUCKUN 
W. A. RUSH 
CEO. S. DOWNING 
E. S. MACDONALD 
O G.ALEXANDER 



; E. ALDRED 
STEPHEN BAKER 

B. H. BORDEN 
MICHAEL FR1EDSAM 
WALTER JENNINGS 
RAYMOND E.JONES 

C. HOWLAND LEAVn 
HENRY K. McHARG 
GEORGE McNFJR 
ARTHUR G. MEYER 
JOHN C. MOORE 
CHARLES E. POTTS 
SAMUEL SLOAN 
WILLIAM SLOANE 
JAMES SPEYER 
CARLF STURHAHN 
WJLUAM S. TOD 
GHOAGEZABRICKi; 



A good example of modern bank advertising 



no drawing or design cut is used, the next important thing is to create 
a suitable heading for the advertisement. 

There are very few persons who read through the copy of all the 
advertisements, but there are many who see all, or nearly all, of the 
heavy headlines. So the wise thing to do is to state your case clearly 
in the headlines. 

' ' The meat at the top ' ' is the rule for good headlines just as much 
in an advertisement as in a news article. By constant practice the 
advertisement writer can learn to tell his whole story in the head- 
lines and thus get a bigger circulation for his announcement, the 
head at the top and the name of the advertiser at the bottom making 



4 MacGREGOR'S book of bank advertising 

in themselves a complete advertisement for the benefit of the near- 
sighted and cursory readers of the paper. 

Create a mental picture in the heading of your advertisement if 
you can and it will add materially to its force. For example, a recent 
advertisement of the Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Co. bore the 
heading, "Our Doors Stand Open to Those Needing Financial Ad- 
vice. ' ' How much more pleasing that heading is than the bald state- 
ment, ' ' Financial Advice Given. ' ' Do a little experimenting on your 
own account. Take several bank advertisement headings of the stilted 
variety and transform them by conveying the same idea by means of 
a mental picture. This practice will prove rewarding if you ever write 
advertisements. 

Here are some good headlines for advertisements : 

BOND BARGAINS. 

NOW IS THE INVESTOR'S OPPORTUNITY. 

REGULAR INCOMES FROM NEW YORK REAL ESTATE. 

WHEN YOU HAVE SAVED $100 GET A CERTIFICATE OF DEPOSIT. 

IT IS EASY, SAFE AND PROFITABLE TO BANK BY MAIL. 

Having chosen a suitable head, you have the subject of your adver- 
tisement. Pick out the talking point or points you wish to develop. 
Then sit down and write as fast as the ideas come to you. Never 
mind the length, drive your pencil as fast as it will go. Get your 
ideas down before they escape you. 

Give real arguments and reasons, not just bald, unsupported state- 
ments. Be logical and consistent. 

When you have written yourself out on that particular subject, 
rewrite your composition. 

Cut out all unnecessary words. Condense. Boil it down, but not 
too much. 

Rewrite your advertisement in the shortest, simplest, strongest 
words that come to you. If you have difficulty in choosing words have 
a synonym book at your elbow and use it. 

It is better to use short, easy-reading paragraphs. 

There are several reasons why this wholesale pruning process is a 
good thing. It saves valuable space, makes easy reading and per- 
mits more effective display. 



USE SIMPLE WORDS 

In writing a booklet or any piece of advertising literature it is 
always best to use simple language. 

A fault that is quite common in the advertising of banks and other 



COPY AND TYPOGRAPHY 5 

financial houses is that the language used is too stilted, formal and 
technical. 

There are certain words which are of the daily vocabulary of 
eve^body, young and old, rich and poor, educated and uneducated. 
They are the domestic, the closely personal words that we all use 
when we are just ourselves and not trying to be dignified or reserved. 

As a rule, these words come of good old Anglo-Saxon stock. They 
are homely but strong. They are the heart of our English language, 
the most valuable heritage of our common tongue. 

It is interesting to notice how few words of home and family and 
every-day life are of ponderous Latin or Greek derivation : 



Mother 


Brother 


Home 


Talk 


Go 


Father 


Son 


Work 


Eat 


Buy 


Wife 


Daughter 


Think 


Drink 


Sell 


Sister 


Love 


Walk 


Do 


Run 



And so on, as far as you like. Think about it yourself and see 
if it is not true that these simple words are the ones most often used 
in daily life. 

It is agreed that there is no better example of pure English than 
the King James version of the Bible, and its strongest passages are 
written in the simplest language. 

A certain advertising copywriter has prepared a list of what he 
claims to be "The Strongest Hundred Words in the English Lan- 
guage." Among the words in the list that, despite the length of 
most of them, seem usable for bank advertising are these fourteen : 

achievement confidence enthusiasm patriotism prosperity 

ambition determination facts perseverance success 

certainty efficiency knowledge progress 

No matter how well educated we are, how much we have traveled 
and seen, or how old we are, we never get away from the influence of 
the simple language we learned at our mother's knee. 

All this has a direct bearing upon your advertising problem. 

You may think that the limited number of every-day words does 
not give you scope enough to tell your advertising story as fully as it 
ought to be told. That may be true, but there is nothing to prevent 
your making your language as simple as possible without sacrificing 
clearness or strength. 

STRENGTH IN SIMPLICITY 

It is really wonderful how much can be said in simple talk and 
how strong it is. There is an advertising man in New York, Leroy 



6 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

Fairman by name, who has written a whole book in words of one 
syllable, and it is by no means a primer, either. 

It pays the advertiser to be on the same ground as those he is 
trying to reach. Using commonly understood language is a great help 
in this direction. 

When you meet a stranger you at once begin to talk about the 
weather or some other general topic. 

Why is it? 

Because it is easier to talk about something you have in com- 
mon with the person you have met. Haven't yoii noticed how much 
better you get on with a stranger when you find out that he and you 
have visited the same places or perhaps used to know the same persons 
years ago ? 

The inference is plain. Don't come at your prospective customers 
with "shop talk" and technical terms, which, while perfectly clear to 
you, may be all Greek to them. 

Come down off your stilts. Use the terse, short, plain words with 
a grip in them, and don't talk over the heads of your prospective 
customers. 

One of the largest banks in New York made a failure of the attempt 
to sell a splendid investment security through advertising in maga- 
zines, and those familiar with the matter say that the fault was not 
in the securities or the times, but in the copy, which was couched in 
terms so obscure to the average man that it was stale and unprofitable. 



A WISE PUBLISHER 

One magazine would not accept the advertising, because it was 
clearly seen that the copy had no pulling power, that there was no 
adequate "follow up" literature and that as a consequence the adver- 
tising would likely be a failure, as results later proved it to be. 

The manager of the publication referred to was wise in his genera- 
tion and preferred not to give this bank the opportunity to lay the 
blame for failure upon his medium. 

There are today, and there always have been, persons who frown 
upon enthusiasm. 

There are certain circles where it is considered very much out of 
place to give any evidence of this spirit. Enthusiasm is regarded as 
vulgar, and enthusiastic persons are not considered worthy of as much 
confidence and respect as are those who habitually hold their feelings 
in restraint and are never betrayed into a display of energy. 

Nevertheless, the fact remains that nothing great ever has been or 



COPY AND TYPOGRAPHY 7 

ever can be accomplished without enthusiasm somewhere on the part 
of somebody. 

Until the past few years very little enthusiasm was shown in adver- 
tising. Look at the advertising pages in a file of magazines of twenty 
years ago. Then compare them with the advertising sections of 
modern magazines. 

There has been a vast improvement not only in the mechanical 
end of advertising — in illustration, engraving and printing — but there 
is now a life, a vigor, an enthusiasm in advertising copj r which was 
almost totally absent in the advertising of a comparatively few years 
ago. 

That, with the enormous development of the circulation of peri- 
odicals, accounts for the great growth of the advertising business and 
the prosperity of institutions that advertise intelligently. 

It is a mighty good thing for the advertiser that human nature 
is the same everywhere, and it is a mighty poor advertiser that doesn't 
make the most of it by putting the right kind of enthusiasm into his 
advertisements, his business letters, booklets, circulars and all the 
printed matter that represents him and seeks to further his business. 

It is right and proper to be self-respecting in your advertising, 
but just remember that enthusiasm, like faith, can remove mountains, 
out that unbending dignity rarely pays dividends. 

ABOUT ILLUSTRATIONS 

The use of a good illustration may add 50 per cent, to the "pull- 
ing" power of an advertisement. 

In the first place, a good, strong illustration serves as an eye- 
catcher. Then it may present an argument in itself. It can be made 
so striking that it will hammer in a point indelibly and prove of more 
value than the rest of the advertisement. 

For example, a real estate company could embellish its advertise- 
ment of some suburban residence property with such an attractive 
view of one of the homes that descriptive words or persuasive argument 
would be almost unnecessary. 

A savings bank, by using a cut to show a page of a pass book, could 
illustrate graphically how savings grow. 

A good illustration tells its story at a glance, a story intelligible 
to young and old alike, to the educated and the illiterate. It can 
touch the feelings and lead to favorable action in the direction sug- 
gested — often more quickly than an appeal to reason, because most 
persons, men as well as women, act more upon impulse than they do as 
the result of cold logic. 



8 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

There must always be a close connection between the idea brought 
out by the illustration and the thought expressed in the copy of the 
advertisement. Unless this rule is observed, there will be waste motion, 
so to speak, in the advertising. The picture of a pretty girl or of a 
beautiful piece of scenery probably will attract passing attention, but 
unless the illustration is tied up in some way with the copy, it will not 
help the advertisement. On the contrary, it is more likely to injure 
it by distracting attention from the main purpose of the announce- 
ment. 

It is not necessary for the advertisement writer to be an artist, too, 
but he should have ideas and be able to sketch them up roughly so 
that an artist can readily see the point and carry it out effectively. 

The regular use of a trademark cut in advertising is good because, 
besides serving to draw attention to the notice, it identifies the adver- 
tisement so that even if not always read, an unconscious influence is 
exerted upon the mind of the reading public. It helps build up a 
prestige, a good will, for the advertiser which may become one of his 
most valuable assets. 

If you adopt and use continuously a certain distinctive style of 
type "set up" in your advertisements you will get some valuable 
secondary or indirect advertising. By creating a style of your own 
you get more than you pay for because in this way you get the full 
benefit of the cumulative effect of all your preceding publicity. 

The emblems of some banks are so well known that if they appeared 
in the newspapers or the street cars without a word of type most of 
those who saw them would know what they stood for. That illustrates 
the cumulative effect of advertising. 

However, we are not advocating the wisdom of any such course. 
It should be remembered that there is a new generation constantly 
growing up that must be educated in the way it should go and the 
best thing for the advertiser to do it is to keep hammering into the 
minds of the people not only his name and emblem!, but also interesting 
facts about his institution and the service it offers the public. 

In short, our advice is — get a good emblem to represent you, make 
it known by advertising and then back up your advertising by making 
good on your promises and by courteous and prompt attention to the 
wants of your customers. 



HARMONY IN STYLE 

Do not use several different styles of type in one advertisement, 
and always remember that there is great strength in simplicity. 



COPY AND TYPOGRAPHY 3 

Do not overlook the value of display obtained by the liberal use 
of white space. 

It is always well in sending" copy to the printer to make a ' l layout ' ' 
similar to that shown on page 13. It helps the printer to carry out 
accurately the idea you have in your mind and insures a better looking 
advertisement. That is, in case you have studied the matter and 
know something about what you do want. Otherwise it is better to 
leave it to the judgment of the printer. 

Always ask to see proof. Otherwise you may be made to say 
some embarrassing things in your advertisements, and mistakes will 
occur even then, if you are not very careful in reading proof. 



TYPOGRAPHY 

The author recently contributed an article on the typography of 
bank advertisements to ' ' The Printing Art ' ' magazine. The ideas and 
illustrations contained therein are reproduced herewith as appropriate 
in this connection. 

Solomon said there was nothing new under the sun. Some modern adver- 
tising sharks who announce ponderously that the first duty of an advertisement 
is to attract attention may be surprised to know that back in the closing years 
of the eighteenth century Addison said, "The great art in writing advertisements 
is the rinding out a proper method to catch the reader's eye," — but the very fact 
that this principle has been known for such a long time only serves to impress 
upon us how true it must be. However, later experience has taught us a corol- 
lary to this proposition, and that is that, having caught the reader's eye, it is 
desirable for an advertisement to please the eye, so that it is not so hastily with- 
drawn from the advertisement as not to read the message thoroughly. 

There is no reason why the rules for effective typography should in any way 
differ in the case of bank advertising from the advertising of anything else, but 
somehow or other the tradition seems to have grown up that, because financial 
institutions are supposed to be ultra-conservative and dignified, their advertising 
representatives should likewise partake of those characteristics. Years ago when 
the "bank card" was the standard form of bank advertising there was dignity at 
the expense of effectiveness, and we still "have with us" similar characteristics 
in the great majority of advertisements of stocks and bonds, although in them 
in many cases dignity is sacrificed through an undue use of display, which after 
all fails to increase their effectiveness. Take for example Figure B where quan- 
tities of white space and much black Cheltenham Bold blinds one to the small 
paragraph of an Old-Style face and makes a badly balanced advertisement. An 
example of a present-day English bank advertisement in this same style is shown 
in Figure A, perhaps indicating that this was the original form of financial an- 
nouncement. Nowadays, however, even the largest and most conservative banking 
institutions have learned to combine dignity with effectiveness in their advertis- 
ing. How it is done is illustrated by some of the specimen bank and trust com- 
pany advertisements reproduced herewith. 

Undoubtedly suitability is the first thing to be considered in the selection of 
type and in its arrangement for a bank advertisement. Poor Richard said, 
"What's proper is becoming; see the blacksmith in his white silk apron." The 



10 MacGREGOR'S book op bank advertising 



COMMERCIAL BANK OF LONDON 



Authorised Capital 
Issued Capital 



£5,000,000 
£2,250,000 



The R.ght Hon. SIR CHARLES EDWARD 
HOBHOUSE, Bart., P. C. (Chairman). 

CLARENCE CHARLES HATRY, Manag- 
ine Director. 

PETER HAIG-THOMAS. 



DIRECTORSr 



The Right Hon. THE EARL OF MARCH, 

.D. S. O. 
STANLEY J. PASSMORE. 
HENRY WILLIAM PELHAM-CLINTON. 
SIR FRANCIS WILLIAM TOWLE, C.B.E 



CURRENT ACCOUNTS opened and every description of Banking Business 
transacted. BILLS discounted and advances made to customers on approved 
security. 
SPECIAL FACILITIES GRANTED TO COMMER- 
CIAL AND INDUSTRIAL UND ERTAKINGS. 

THE PURCHASE AND SALE OF SECURITIES undertaken; safe custody 
of securities;, also the receipt Of dividends. 
COUPONS AND DRAWN BONDS negotiated. 
DEPOSITS received at call, or for fixed periods, at rates which may be ascer- 
tained on application. 



ARTHUR H. KING,! Jcfnt 

J. J. SPEAR. f General Ma 

is, 



6 AUSTIN FRIARS, LONDON, E.C.2. 



Figure A 



$750,000 

City of Portland, Oregon 

Harbor Development 4}/i% Gold Bonds 

Dated February 2, 1920 Maturing Serially 

FREE FROM ALL FEDERAL INCOME TAXES 
ELIGIBLE AS SECURITY FOR POSTAL SAVINGS DEPOSITS 

FINANCIAL STATEMENT 

(Officially reported) 

Assessed valuation taxable property, equalized 1920. . . . $312,802,920 

Net bonded debt (including this issue) 21 ,605, 933 

Population 1920 (estimated) 325,000 

PORTLAND, wealthy in natural advantages, is the chief import- 
ing, exporting, and distributing point for a territory of 250,000 
square miles. It ranks high as a financial, commercial, and manu- 
facturing center in the Pacific Northwest. Steamers from its docks 
carry on an extensive coastwise and Oriental trade. 

Attractive range of maturities from February 2, 1923, to 1950 

At prices from 98.69 to 92.29 and interest 
TO YIELD ABOUT 5% 

Compute circular on request 

The National City Company 

Main Office — National City Bank Building 

Uptown Office — Fifth Avenue and 43rd St. 

Correspondent Offices in more, than fifty Cities 



The information contained in this advertisement is based upon official state- 
ments and statistics. We do not guarantee but believe it to be correct. 



COPY AND TYPOGRAPHY 



11 











Hgs"{—^.««. Compaq 











There is Only One 

Fifth -Avenue 

THE TRAVELER on reluming Irom » lour o! 



rgataSasass 




Bankers Trust Company 




Some examples of effective typographical arrangement 

incongruous picture which this witty saying brings up to the mind is certainly 
duplicated in the case of some bank advertisements we see clothed in type more 
suitable for a circus poster than to carry the message of a banking institution. 
Argument seems unnecessary to convince anyone that different methods should be 
used in advertising something as entirely joyful and carefree as a circus, as com- 
pared with a trust company, for instance, which undertakes the solemn respon- 
sibility of carrying out the provisions of the last will and testament, and through 



12 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

the medium of type seeks appointment to act as executor and in similar capacities 
of trust. 

The tendency of the average bank officer, unskilled in advertising, is to want 
to display the name of his institution above everything else, overlooking the fact 
that he can get just as much general publicity for his bank by having its name 
modestly displayed at the bottom of an interesting advertisement as he can by 
having it appear as the main feature of an otherwise uninteresting announcement. 
The interesting heading and a well written and convincing advertisement will in- 
evitably lead the reader to notice the name of the bank, and at the same time 
they are infinitely more likely to lead to favorable action on the part of the reader 
as regards the suggestion made in the advertisement. 

Every advertising bank should choose a distinctive style of type and always 
use it in its advertising. That will create a good will or trade-mark value which 
is an important by-product of an advertising campaign. Not a few banks have 
bought their own special font of type and placed it in their local newspaper com- 
posing room for their own exclusive use. Practically all the big banks which 
advertise at all employ the services of an advertising agent, and in most cases 
the procedure is to have the copy laid out by the agency and set up by a special 
printer. When it is finally in satisfactory shape, electrotypes are made and sent 
to one newspaper office where stereotypes are made for printing in that newspaper, 
and stereotyped matrices ("mats") are made for the use of other newspapers. 
This usually eliminates typographical 'errors and insures a uniform and satis- 
factory appearance of the advertisement. 

Probably the majority of modern bank advertisements are illustrated either 
by means of pictures especially drawn to fit the individual advertisement, or by 
a trade-mark emblem representing the bank, just as the trade-mark of a man- 
ufactured article is inseparably connected with it. 

It would be interesting and valuable, if it were possible, to estimate ac- 
curately how much more effective a suitably illustrated advertisement is as com- 
pared with another advertisement containing the same reading matter, but lacking 
the illustration. But the illustration should be in harmony with the spirit of 
the advertisement and the character of the institution. 

Recently, for instance, certain banking institutions have been using illustra- 
tions of an historical character in their advertisements, one of them, The Old 
Colony Trust Company of Boston, illustrating incidents in New England 
history; another, the Bank of the Manhattan Company, using imitation wood- 
cuts of buildings and men connected with its own history. It is the way in which 
these are used which makes them appropriate to bank advertising; and not only 
the way in which they are used, but actually the technique of their drawing. 
They are dignified, and they are placed in a typographic setting which is equally 
dignified. 

Illustrations of modern views of places or buildings connected with the 
subject are used to good advantage by many banks in their advertising, and occa- 
sionally maps are used decoratively. 

As to the type faces best suited to this subject, Caslon is used almost too 
frequently. While it is a most satisfactory type face for use where dignity 
and stability are to be impressed on the reader, other faces are quite as appro- 
priate, and by their less frequent use are more likely to attract. Bodoni is one 
of these, preeminently suited to such use, yet it is very little used. Goudy Old 
Style is another, and, although quite different from any of these, Bookman is still 
another. Scotch Roman, while beautiful and appropriate in general, has the 
fault of over-heavy capitals, which stand out too strongly. As to methods of 
use, simplicity, an avoidance of undue display, richness if you like, but nothing 
ornate, and legibility, seem to cover all requirements. 



COPY AND TYPOGRAPHY 



13 




The rough lay-out for the printer 



PROOFREADER S MARKS 



For your convenience in learning to read proof, the usual proof- 
reading symbols and their meanings are reproduced here : 

cf Delete; take out or expunge. 

/\ Left out; insert. 

Q Colon. 

ff: A space, or more space, between lines or letters. 
^^ Less space between words or letters. 
—/ Hyphen. 

C Bring a word or words to the beginning of a line; also, make a new para- 
graph. 

^ Directs attention to a broken or imperfect type. 



14 MacGBEGOB'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 



YOUR 

ULTIMATE 

BANKING 

REQUIREMENTS 

STANDING on the threshold of a new 
commercial era, The Philadelphia National 
Bank is prepared to render banking service 
commensurate with the requirements of the 
utmost commercial activity. By establishing a 
banking connection with us now you are assurt 
ing yourself of financial co-operation adequate 
to handle with intelligence and dispatch both 
your present and ultimate banking needs. 

Our broad, constructive service 
stimulates growth and anticipates 
future success. 

THE 

PHILADELPHIA 

NATIONAL 

BANK 

4 2. 1 C H E STNUT STREET 



The finished advertisement 



COPY AND TYPOGRAPHY 15 

Q Period. 

\/ Even spacing. 
□ Indent. 

G) Turn a reversed letter. 
I Push down space. 

^^ No space between words or letters; close up. 
V Comma. 

\</ Apostrophe. 
tJLi One-em dash. 

yL£./ Two-em dash. 
v /^ Quotation. 

/y Straighten a crooked line or lines. 

| . Directs attention to a quadrat or space which improperly appears. 

I J Sink or depress a letter, word, or character raised above the proper 
level. 

L_"~| Carry a word farther to the left or to the right. 

Elevate a letter, word or character, that is sunk below the proper 
n level. 

Shows that a portion of a paragraph projects laterally beyond 
the rest. 

|[ Make a new paragraph. 

Put in Italic; also change according to the mark in the margin, as 

from Italic to Roman or from Roman to Italic. 

= Put in small capitals. 

=E Put in capitals. 

.... Restore or retain words being crossed out, stet being usually 
written in the margin, meaning "Let it stand." 

wf. Wrong font, used when a character is of wrong size or style. 

tr. Transpose. 

1. c. Lower case ; that is, put in small or common letters a word that 
has been printed in capitals or small capitals. 

s.caps Put in small capitals. 
qy.or? Query; is this right? 
outsc Words are omitted, or are wanting, see copy. 



16 



MacGREGOR'S book of bank advertising 



These are a few technical points that it would be well for you to 
master if you are planning to conduct your own advertising, and 
the knowledge will not come amiss if you delegate the actual details 




Making the bank's building serve as a trade mark 

of preparation to somebody else. You are the one that has to pay the 
bills and cannot know too much about what you are paying for in 
promoting your business. 

To recapitulate some of the points made, and to outline others 
which are to be taken up later in this work, it may be briefly said 
here that the following are some of the salient points which enter into 
successful financial advertising. 



COPY AND TYPOGRAPHY 17 

COPY should be strong, truthful, interesting, clear, concise, in- 
formative, and attractively set up. It should not be formal, stilted, 
verbose or heavy. The creator of the advertisement should aim first 
to make the announcement so attractive that it will be seen, and, 
secondly, so convincing that it will inspire prompt and favorable 
action on the part of the reader. A uniform style of typographical 
set-up should be adopted, including a trade-mark emblem if possible, 
but the copy should be changed frequently, thus combining fresh in- 
terest with cumulative value. 

MEDIUMS-. — There are many mediums which the financial adver- 
tiser can advantageously use — newspapers, magazines, booklets, calen- 
dars, circulars, form letters, novelties, street cars, moving pictures and 
bill-boards. Unquestionably the most valuable medium for the aver- 
age bank or investment house is the daily newspaper. But all mediums 
have strong points in their favor and the advertiser ought to inves- 
tigate each of them thoroughly. 

INSERTIONS — A regular annual appropriation for advertising 
should be made, and the object should be to secure as frequent in- 
sertions of a fair-sized advertisement as possible with that appropria- 
tion. If you can afford to pay for "position" in the newspaper 
("top next," "top surrounded," etc.,) so much the better. Figure 
it all out in advance with the aid of the newspaper's advertising 
rate card. Be sure that you see proofs of each advertisement before 
it is inserted, and insist on good set-up. Show the publisher you 
know what you want, and then you are quite likely to get it. 

And above all things, be consistent, insistent and persistent in your 
advertising. 

GETTING EXPERT HELP 

A good advertising agent or an expert advertising writer is worth 
more than he costs you, because he helps you to save and to make more 
money than you would without him. 

Today there are specialists in the preparation and handling of 
advertising just as there are in every other line. It pays to consult 
and to employ them even if your advertising appropriation is a small 
one. If your business is large enough to warrant it, you need an 
advertising expert of your own. But even in that case, the advertising 
preparation bureau and the agency that places advertising will be 
of the greatest service to you. 

A knowledge of the results of the experience of many other finan- 
cial advertisers on such important matters as copy, mediums and 



18 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

methods is placed at your instant command when yon employ expert 
service of this kind. 

Banks and investment honses that advertise nationally place their 
business through advertising agents because they are thus relieved of. 
all detail work in connection with their publicity and pay nothing for 
the service, as the agent is reimbursed for his work by the commissions 
he receives from the publishers of the magazines and other mediums 
used. 

For the convenience of readers and students not familiar with 
printing, publishing and advertising terminology, we print the fol- 
lowing : 

GLOSSARY OF TERMS COMMONLY USED IN ADVERTISING 

Advertising Agent. — One who handles advertising for another. Some agents 
are just "space brokers," getting their pay entirely in commissions from 
publications and those controlling advertising privileges. Others have copy 
and art departments and give their clients service in the preparation of 
advertising matter as well as in the mechanical details of an advertising 
campaign. 

Agate Line. — A line of agate type. It is used as a measure of advertising space, 
fourteen agate lines being allowed to an inch, single column. 

Antique Finish. — Term used when paper is not calendered. 

Appropriation. — An amount of money set aside for advertising expense. 

Boldface or Blackface Type. — A type having a conspicuous or heavy face, like 
this — Boldface 

Border. — A rule or design used around an advertisement or plate. 

Break-Line. — The last line of a paragraph if it contains a blank space. 

Calendered Paper. — Paper that has been given a glazed, glossy or wavy appear- 
ance by an ironing machine consisting of two' or more heated cylinders. 

Campaign. — A complete plan of advertising. Also the carrying out of the plan 
in all its details. 

Caps. — Capital letters. 

Caption. — A title, or explanatory paragraph at the beginning of a paragraph or 
article. 

Chase. — A rectangular iron frame in which pages or columns of type or other 
type matter are imposed preparatory to printing, stereotyping or electro- 
typing. 

Checking Up. — Verifying insertions of advertisements before paying bills for 
the advertising. 

Circulation. — The circulation of a publication means the total number of copies 
printed and distributed to readers. The circulation of billboards, street car 
advertising, etc., means the number of people who see the advertising. 

Closing Date. — The date upon which a periodical locks up its forms prepara- 
tory to going to press. Every publication has a fixed time every month, 
week or day after which it is impossible to accept copy of advertisements 
for that issue. 

Color Work. — Cony printed in more than one color, usually done on a color 
press, and with several impressions. 

Composition.— The setting up of type and arranging it for printing. 

Compositor, — A typesetter. 

Cropping. — Cutting the edges of a negative or photograph so that a plate can be 
made with the desired proportionate reduction from the original copy. 

Cut. — An engraved block or plate. Also the impression from such a plate. 



COPY AND TYPOGRAPHY 19 

Condensed. — When type is very "lean" it is called condensed. The basis of 
measurement is the length of line all the lower-case letters from a to z, 
inclusive, make when put together. 

Copy. — Manuscript (written or typewritten) or printed matter to be set up in 
type. Or, a photograph, drawing or other article of which a cut is to be 
made. 

Design. — The name given to the drawing or "art work" portion of an illustrated 
advertisement, or of the cover of a booklet. 

Display. — The method used to make an advertisement stand out conspicuously. 
It can be done by large type, striking design, liberal use of white space or 
unusual arrangement. 

Display Type. — Large type used for heads or lines in advertisements or other 
parts to be especially emphasized. 

Dummy. — A working plan of a book, circular, etc., used to convey an idea of the 
size, form, stock and other particulars. It is used as a basis for cost 
estimates and to show how the completed work will look. 

Electro, Electrotyping. — A duplicated copy of an engraving or type form, made 
by suspending a wax copy in a solution of copper sulphate together with a 
plate of copper. An electric current deposits the copper on the impression, 
which is backed with a stiff metal, trimmed and blocked ready for the press; 
a means of duplicating plates and type matter by a combined chemical- and 
electrical process. Electros are more durable than some other printing 
plates. 

E. O. D. — Every other day, meaning that an advertisement is to run alternate 
days in a daily paper. 

E. O. W. — A mark meaning that an advertisement is to run every other week 
in a weekly publication. 

Em. — The portion of a line formerly occupied by the letter m, then a square 
type, used as a unit by which to measure the amount of printed matter 
on a page; the square of the body of a type. 

Enameled Paper. — This is produced by a coating of glue and China clay, which 
fills up the pores of the paper. 

Etching. — Producing designs or figures on a metal plate by means of lines eaten 
in or corroded by means of a strong acid. 

Extended. — When type is very "fat," as in display type, it is said to be ex- 
tended. See "Condensed" above. 

Face. — The style or cut of a type or font of type. The printing surface. 

Folio. — The page number at the top or bottom of a page, even numbers always 
on the left, odd on the right hand side. 

Follow Up. — Personal and form letters, circulars, mailing cards, personal visits, 
and, in short, the whole system by which inquiries are turned into orders, in- 
quirers into customers. A very important part of modern advertising. 

Font. — A complete assortment of printing type of one size, including a due pro- 
portion of all the letters in the alphabet, large and small, points, accents, 
and whatever else is necessary for printing with that variety of types. 

Form. — The type or other matter from which an impression is to be taken, ar- 
ranged and secured in a chase, ready for printing. 

Forms Close. — See "Closing Date." 

Form Letter, — A letter prepared in advance and kept in stock to be sent to in- 
quirers or as part of a follow-up system. They are usually typewritten or 
printed in imitation of typewritten letters, space being left at the top to 
fill in the date and the address with the same color of ink as the body of the 
letter. 

Furniture. — Large pieces of wood or metal used to blank out pages, to put 
around type in chases, etc. 

Galley. — A flat, oblong tray, usually of brass, flanged on one or both sides and 
and at one end, for holding composed type. 



20 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

Galley Proof. — Proof of type matter as it stands in galley form. 

Halftone. — A copper plate upon which is reproduced any photograph, wash 
drawing, or steel engraving, which is to be printed on paper. It is made 
by obtaining, through a ruled glass screen, a negative which is then printed 
on the plate and etched to a suitable depth for printing. Halftones can be 
reproduced from wash or color drawings, oil paintings, and photographs. 
Solio or other brown photographs will give the best result. The finer the 
screen of a halftone, the cleaner the detail. Sixty-four screen is the proper 
mesh for newspaper printing. About 133 screen will give the best result on 
calendered paper. One hundred and fifty can be used on coated paper. 
(See "Screen.") 

Holdover. — Matter and copy held out of one issue of a publication for use in a 
later one. 

Impose. — To place and arrange type matter — pages, plates and the like — in 
proper position for printing. 

Impression. — The imprint made by the pressure of the type or plate on the 
paper. 

Imprint. — The name or other mark of the printer to identify anything printed 
by him. 

Indention. — The setting in of a line or body of type by a blank space at the 
•beginning or left-hand side, as in the first line of a paragraph, being variously 
indented an em or more according to the length of the line — the longer the 
line the greater the indention. "Hanging indention" is used on this page. 
It is an equal indention of all lines of a paragraph except the first, which 
is longer than the others and hangs over them. 

Inquiry. — A request for further information concerning something advertised. 
It is the task of the advertiser to turn inquiries into orders or business. 

Insertions. — Means the number of times an advertisement appears in a publi- 
cation. For example, "three insertions a week" means that the advertise- 
ment appears three times during the week. 

Justify. — To make lines of type even by proper spacing. 

Key. — A means of telling how an advertisement or a medium pays the adver- 
tiser. Usually it is something in the address which differs in the various 
mediums used. For example: "Dept. A"; "Dept. B"; "Desk 5"; "Suite 
105"; or "Send for booklet A," etc. A careful record of inquiries and sales 
or customers secured from each advertisement is kept by a great many ad- 
vertisers. It is a wise thing to do, as it enables the advertiser to spend his 
advertising appropriation intelligently. 

Kill. — To eliminate copy or type-matter set up. 

Layout. — An accurately drawn outline marked so that the printer may know 
exactly how to set up an advertisement, circular, etc. On it are indicated 
the exact space, the size of type, position of cuts and other information 
to enable the printer to carry out the ideas of the advertiser. (See illustra- 
tion in this chapter.) 

L. C. — Lower case, i. e., small letters. 

Lead. — A thin strip of type metal, less than type-high, used to separate lines of 
type in printing. 

Leaded. — Matter with proper leads dividing it for printing. Double leaded 
matter is more likely to attract attention than single leaded. 

Legend. — A title or explanatory paragraph placed under a cut is a legend. 

Line Cut. — An engraving plate in which the effects are produced by lines of 
different width and closeness, cut upon copper, zinc or similar material. 

Live Matter. — Any type matter kept standing for future use. 

Linotype. — A typesetting machine, operated as a typewriter, which casts the 
words in lines from the molten type-metal. 

Lithography. — The process of producing printed impressions from designs or 
writing put on stone with a greasy material, the process depending upon 



COPY AND TYPOGRAPHY 21 

the antipathy between grease and water, which prevents a printing ink 
containing oil from adhering to wetted parts of the stone not covered by the 
design. 

Make Ready. — After the type matter and cuts are locked into the form, print- 
ing cannot be started until the form is "made ready" for the press. That 
is, if a cut is too high it must be lowered. If it is too low it must be raised. 
If a "quad" or a "slug" sticks up it must be hammered down. Everything to 
be printed must be "type-high," so that the form will print evenly. Some 
of the processes are "underlaying," "overlaying" and "cutting out." 

Mat, Matrix. — See "Stereotype Plate." 

Matter, — Written manuscript or anything to be set in type; copy; also type 
set up and ready to be used, or which has been used in printing. 

Medium. — Any vehicle of advertising, as a magazine, newspaper, street car, bill- 
board, calendar, novelty, etc. 

Monotype. — A typesetting machine which sets each individual type separately 
and not by lines as on a linotype. 

Mortise. — A portion of an engraved plate cut out so that type matter or another 
plate may be inserted. 

Overrun. — To change the arrangement of composed type by driving words into 
another line, or lines into another column or page. Done to fill gaps caused 
by the cutting out of matter, or on account of the insertion of more matter. 

Pi. — Type matter accidentally disarranged so that it cannot be used until as- 
sorted and reset. 

Pica. — See "Point." 

Pickup. — Standing type matter to be used again with new matter. 

Plate. — A piece of metal upon which anything is engraved for the purposes of 
printing. Also the impression from it. 

Point, the Point System. — The size of type is now measured by the point sys- 
tem based on the pica body, which is divided into twelfths, which are termed 
point. Type founders now cast type of a uniform size and height. Seventy- 
two points or six picas make one inch. This matter is set in eight point. 

Preferred Position. — A location of an advertisement in a magazine or news- 
paper which gives it the advantage in getting the attention of readers. 
Usually a higher rate is charged for such position. 

Press. — A machine which makes impressions of type matter and plates upon a 
printing surface. The smallest presses are operated by hand. A cylinder 
press is one in which the impression is produced by a revolving cylinder un- 
der which the form passes. Sometimes the stereotype plates are curved 
around a cylinder, instead of resting on a flat bed. All fast printing is 
done on cylinder presses. 

Proof. — A trial impression from type or plate taken for correction or examina- 
tion. 

Proof-Reader. — One who reads proof and makes corrections thereon. 

Pull. — A term used in speaking of the results obtained from an advertisement, 
as "The ad. pulled well." 

Pure Reading Matter. — News or general articles in a newspaper or magazine. 
Position for an advertisement next to pure reading matter is desirable be- 
cause in that location the announcement is more likely to be seen and read. 

Quads. — Pieces of type-metal lower than the letters, used to fill out blank lines. 

Quoin. — A metal wedge used to lock up a form within a chase. 

Rate Card. — A printed list of prices for advertising space, with information as 
to discounts, special positions, etc. 

Reading Notice. — An advertisement set so that it looks like a news or general 
article. The charge for such notices is higher than for the same space in 
display type. 

Ream. — There are 500 sheets of paper to a ream, but the size of the sheet and 
the weight of a ream differ according to the kind of paper. 



22 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

Register. — The correspondence or adjustment of the several impressions in a 
design which is printed in parts, especially in multi-color work. 

Revise.— To compare (a proof) with a previous proof of the same matter, and 
mark again such errors as have not been corrected in the type. 

Rout, Rout Out. — To make alterations on an engraved plate by gouging with 
a sharp tool. 

Rule. — A thin plate of metal (usually brass) of the same height as the type, 
used for printing lines, as between columns, for borders, or in tabular work. 

Run In. — To omit paragraphs or break-lines to save space. 

Screen. — In making halftones a ruled glass screen is interposed between the 
copy and the camera, producing a negative of dots made by the crossed 
lines, which gives the desired tone and shading to the illustration. For 
use in newspapers a coarse screen (about 60-line) is best. For a better 
grade of paper, as in a magazine, 110 or 120-line screen should be used. 
On highly enameled paper a still finer screen is desirable. (See "Half- 
tone.") 

Selling Force. — The strength of copy — its ability to induce action in the desired 
direction on the part of readers. 

Set Up. — To compose; to arrange type in words, lines, etc. 

Signature. — A letter or figure placed at the bottom of the first page of each sheet 
of a book or pamphlet as a direction to the binder in arranging and folding 
the sheets. Also the printed sheet so marked, or the form from which it is 
printed. Also the advertiser's name at the bottom of an ad. 

Sizing. — A vegetable, resinous substance mixed in with the wood pulp from which 
paper is made to render the paper suitable to take ink properly. 

Slugs. — Very thick leads used to blank out for white space. 

Stereotype Plate, — Made by setting movable type as for ordinary printing; 
from these a cast is taken in paper pulp, or the like, and upon this cast melted 
type metal is poured, which, when hardened, makes a solid page or column, 
from which the impression is taken as from type. The mold is made by 
beating or pressing paper mache into a form and drying it quickly. The 
paper form is called a mat. 

Stick. — An instrument of metal which the typesetter holds in his left hand in 
which to arrange the type in words and lines. It has one open side and one 
adjustable end. The term is sometimes used as a measure of space. A 
"stick" of matter means about as much in length as the average newspaper 
column is wide. 

Stone. — A stand or table with a smooth, flat top of stone, commonly marble, on 
which to arrange the pages of a book, newspaper, etc.. before printing. 

Take. — The quantity of copy taken at one time by a compositor. 

Talking Points. — Features of a proposition that make good arguments to use in 
copy advertising it. 

T. F. — Till forbid, meaning run the advertisement until a cancellation order is 
received. 

Type. — A raised letter, figure, or other character cast in metal or cut in wood, 
used in printing. 

Type-High. — The standard height of type is .918 inches. Anything of that height 
is, therefore, "type-high." 

Type-Page. — This means the exact dimensions of the printed part of a page. 
It is uniform throughout a book. 

Typography. — Means the general makeup and appearance of a piece of advertising 
looked at from a printing standpoint. 

Vignette. — An engraving or photograph with a border insensibly fading away. 

Zinc Plate. — Made from a negative taken from pen and ink drawing, type matter 
etc., by a direct process. The negative is reproduced on a zinc plate and 
etched to a proper printing depth. 



CHAPTER II 
ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 

THERE are points in favor of most advertising mediums, but 
some are of a great deal more value than others. It is for 
each advertiser to decide for himself what medium or medi- 
ums are best suited for his proposition. The experience of other 
advertisers in similar lines ought to be a good guide. 

NEWSPAPERS 

There is a great deal to be said for the daily newspaper as an 
advertising medium. It goes everywhere. Everybody reads it. 
Every day it comes entirely fresh and new. The advertiser in it 
makes his message fresh and new daily, too. The newspaper, it is true, 
is ephemeral, short lived, as far as a single edition is concerned, but 
it makes up in the frequency of its appearance what it lacks in the per- 
manency of the individual copy. Considerably more than half of an 
advertising appropriation for any financial institution or investment 
house can be safely expended in the newspapers. 

As to the relative value of the morning or afternoon paper, that 
again depends upon your proposition. If you are advertising an 
investment involving quite a large amount, or if you are calling 
attention to the facilities of your bank or trust company in the han- 
dling of commercial accounts or the administration of estates, probably 
the morning paper would be the best, because it is read largely by the 
business man on the way to work and at the office. 

The evening paper goes into the homes and is read by the women 
as well as the men. Conditions differ in different cities, but this is 
the general rule. The big department stores, than which there are no 
shrewder advertisers, quite generally favor the evening papers. 

Therefore, if you are advertising the advantages of thrift and a 
savings account, or if you are exploiting the merits of a certain resi- 
dence property for the home-seeker, you will doubtless get the best 
results from the evening newspapers. 

Women do the greater part of the buying in this country, and 
nine times out of ten, they have the deciding vote in the choice of 
a home site and are the power behind the throne when it comes to 

23 



24 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

domestic economy. So if you are wise you will always bear the women 
in mind not only in preparing your copy, but also in choosing your 
medium. 

Of course, circulation is the touchstone by which all mediums 
must be tested. In every city there is one newspaper that unquestion- 
ably leads every other one in circulation. Usually it is the one that 
carries the greatest amount of classified or "want ads." 

But there is a " quality ' ' as well asa" quantity ' ' circulation which 
must be considered. For some kinds of advertising 5,000 of a high 
class circulation is worth 20,000 of a poorer class. For example, 
there is no doubt at all that a man who had a $50,000 house to sell 
would get better results from advertising in a medium which appealed 
exclusively to men of wealth than he would if he placed his announce- 
ment in a cheap publication of large, but low class circulation. 

MAGAZINES 

The general magazines have very large circulations, some of them 
in excess of two million. The class of readers is good, too, although 
the ' ' quality ' ' of the circulation differs according to the character and 
price of the publication. 

A few years ago the best magazines had a "house-cleaning" of 
their advertising pages, as a result of which nothing but reputable 
and entirely trustworthy financial and investment advertisements are 
admitted. This insures good company to all advertisers and adds a 
great deal to the value of the advertisement, because it is quite gener- 
all known that the mere fact that an advertisement appears in such 
magazines is prima facie evidence that it is worthy of confidence. 
In a measure the publisher becomes sponsor for his advertisers. 

The large volume of advertising carried by the magazines and 
the extensive space used by the big national advertisers is the best 
kind of proof of the value of magazine publicity. 

In magazine advertising you measure out your money to suit con- 
ditions. You may select magazines which will furnish practically any 
service you need. Those weekly and monthly magazines which cover 
the country like a blanket give you a national service of publicity. 
There are others which appeal to particular kinds of people — same 
sort of folks in many different parts of the country. Then again 
there are magazines which restrict themselves in circulation to certain 
parts of the country, and others to similar types of communities. 
Study is needed, and advice to determine just what magazines will be 
most effective for given purposes. Then, there are factors which are 
common to all magazines. For example, they have long life. They 



ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 25 

live from an entire week to four or more. They are accessible on 
reading tables for days and days — the same magazines. Even when 
succeeding numbers come, the life of previous issues is not over; 
magazines are "passed along," and do duty with additional people. 
Hardly any magazine is a one-man or a one-woman proposition. They 
are bought with the whole family's interest in view, and nowadays a 
family's assortment of magazines furnishes father, mother and the 
children just the sort of reading matter they like most. 

Magazine advertising, through the intimacy and directness of its 
appeal, as well as permanency, has an efficient and lasting commercial 
value. It has adaptability, in that it may be trained directly upon 
certain types, classes or communities. 

The best magazines every year decline hundreds of thousands 
of dollars' worth of advertising business because it is not up to their 
standard. The magazines are independent, progressive, and have 
a high moral and intellectual tone, which makes them of permanent 
interest in thousands of the best homes in the land — those with pur- 
chasing and investing power. 

The magazine reaches the business man in his leisure hours. It 
appeals with special force to the women in the home and they are 
the great buyers. 

The magazine is a national medium. So that the wide distribution 
of its circulation and its permanency gives it immense advantages over 
other forms of advertising. 

It is generally conceded today that no class of publications so 
directly reaches the homes of influence and purchasing power as the 
magazines. Originally designed principally for purposes of entertain- 
ment, they have in these latter days verily become the molders of pub- 
lic opinion. They go into the home by invitation and possess remark- 
able length of life. They are of interest not only to every adult mem- 
ber of the family, all of whom are naturally concerned in the beautify- 
ing and improving of the home, but they become, as it were, familiar 
landmarks to the children who grow up in the appreciation of good 
magazine literature. 

CLASS PUBLICATIONS 

There is a kind of publications known as trade papers or class 
magazines. These publications are especially good to use in appealing 
to a particular class. For instance, the bank or investment house that 
wishes to put its facilities at the command of banks throughout the 
country will naturally advertise in banking and financial publications, 
of which there are many of both nationwide and sectional circulation, 



26 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

Editorially they are interesting and helpful to the banking profession, 
and there is no doubt about their being carefully read by bankers— 
especially by the progressive ones, young and old. 



STREET CARS 

A great number of banks have traced profitable returns directly to 
their car campaigns and invariably the copy and illustrations which 
composed the body of the advertisements used by these institutions 
have been of a forceful and attractive nature. 




Your Saving's 
Safe Here 



NATIONALMHMALTIMORE 



BALTIMORE & 
ST.PAUL STREETS 



OLDEST BANK 
IN MARYLAND 



CHARTERED 
IN 1T9 5 




Save Time 



Pay Monthly Bills 
the modern way 

Ckeckoritke 




First S' Security National BanK 

F.FTH STREET* MARQUETTE C av it.U n " Su " s ^ooJo 




Depend on Me 

Money from 4% 
always comes in 
handy. 



CENTRAL BANK & TRUST CORPORATION 



Samples of street car cards which will be read 



ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 27 

A street car is a traveling section of democracy — democracy in 
motion, so to speak. The lion and the lamb hold straps together and 
a foreign-born conductor tells them where they get off. That gentle- 
man across the way with the splendid cravat perhaps is the possessor 
of less wordly goods than the man with the bag and bundle beside 
you, while the shabby mother over there with her baby, has in all 
probability saved more money than the price of that fashionably 
dressed girl's fur coat. Thus it goes. Elbows that rest on all sorts 
and conditions of tables are here rubbed together. All strata in the 
social scale are here assembled. Different, however, as are the inter- 
ests and positions of the people, they all have several fundamental 
interests in common. The car card, when properly written and illus- 
trated, has the power to awaken their interest. In the case of the 
bank, it is extremely simple. All men desire wealth, most men desire 
to retain what they already possess ; all men desire security, prosperity, 
and an opportunity to add to their funds. These matters are in the 
province of the bank or trust company, and by featuring, in a simple, 
short and convincing manner, its facilities to promote and secure 
these advantages, the bank is not only appealing to eyery man and 
woman who rides (which is practically the city's entire population) 
but is also helping to establish the virtues of thrift and industry. 

Are car cards read! They are, by the millions. Frequently the 
observer may gain the opposite impression. To him the passengers 
seem listless, busy with their newspapers or conversations, lost in their 
own thoughts. True enough, but while the mind is occupied the eye is 
also busy. An impression is made on even the most casual observer. 
Many persons seeing a bank's car card daily for many weeks, eventu- 
ally go to that bank, totally unaware of the fact that it was the car 
card that directed their steps. Car cards must be seen. The eye 
must find a lodgment. Travel where it may, it will eventually rest 
on the car card. If the particular card it rests upon is striking and 
interesting, such as the sample bank cards reproduced herewith, the 
eye will remain there. If not, it will travel until it finds a more at- 
tractive subject. 

Consequently we come to the nature of the cop}^ and character of 
the illustration to be used in the creation of a car card advertisement 
for the bank or trust company. 

In the first place, and before the campaign is initiated, the bank 
must have a story to tell. It must know this story so well that the 
telling of it will require a brief sentence or two. A few words fre- 
quently serve better than an exhaustive argument. The basic aspira- 
tions in man should be appealed to — the instincts to survive, provide 
and protect. This can be readily done. It can be enlarged upon or 



28 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

modified according to the specific requirements of the bank, section of 
the city through which the car runs, the type of people appealed to, 
and even the season of the year. The illustration should be colorful, 
dignified of course, but not stodgy, and always attractive and eye com- 
pelling. Clear type, short text, interesting and instructive illustra- 
tions — these are the essentials of the ideal car card. 

Are the costs of a car advertising campaign excessive? By no 



»!IS KiNOWJNG the BIG 

I! ??^«s!!!;iii ') possibilities of tne 
smallest account — 



-•IfcS** ' ■ * "" »* «- -, ,,: 



f ; iiiia.»;sH«| a u conservative busi- 

'Slllili ness is welcome at 



/ ^S*- ; : r The OJd National Bank 

Pljlf^J--; -* ■ OF SPOKANE 



A good street car ad. 

means. From two to four cents a card — seldom if ever higher than 
this. Furthermore, it is not necessary, unless it is the wish of the 
advertiser, to cover an entire city. He can use the district in which 
his bank is located. He can educate section after section. He can 
extend his campaign even to the outlying sections or suburbs of his 
city, or he can appeal to the entire nation, should he so desire. 

Boiling the question down, it is not so much a matter of deciding 
whether or not car card advertising is profitable to banks, for this has 
been clearly demonstrated in hundreds of specific cases, but one of 
deciding upon the best sort of copy and illustrations to use. It should 
be remembered, however, that while street car advertising is both 
profitable and resultful, it is also a supplementary branch of advertis- 
ing, which fortifies and gives color to the newspaper and other public- 
ity of a bank. 

An officer of the Union Trust Company of Chicago said : 

Our reasons for going into the street cars are based on the follow- 
ing facts : 

1. They traverse certain districts of the city where we find by 
actual analysis that we have the largest proportion of customers per 



ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 



29 



thousand circulation. Experience shows that it is most profitable to 
advertise where we have the most friends who will recommend us. 

2. The street cars that we use run on three trunk lines which 
bring the people downtown and right to the door of our Savings 
Department. This takes advantage of an object many people have in 
opening savings accounts at a particular bank; viz., convenience of 
location. 

3. The sight of our advertisement in the street cars gives the oppor- 
tunity to a customer of ours who may be riding with a friend or 
acquaintance to recommend the Union Trust Company. 

BILLBOARDS 

Quite a number of successful banks and trust companies are now 
using billboards in their advertising, with good results. One strong 




Many banks are using billboards to good effect 

point in favor of outdoor publicity is that it is seen by people when 
their minds are open for such impressions. 

The location of the billboards is the all-important thing. Along 
the principal street car line, near a ball ground, at a railroad station 
or at a transfer point — all of these are good locations for billboards. 
In cities where there are elevated railroads and subways, as in New 
York, the advertising spaces at the stations are valuable. The subur- 
ban stations on the Pennsylvania and the Reading railroads near 
Philadelphia provide good advertising vantage points. In St. Louis 
and Pittsburgh, among other cities, banks, especially savings banks, 
use large painted billboard signs. 



30 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

While it is universally conceded that outdoor advertising through 
the medium of bill posters is efficacious as applied to the general field 
of advertising, the expediency of resorting to its practice is still a 
question to be settled in the minds of those who are responsible for 
the advertising policies of banks and other financial institutions. 

A financial institution's advertising requires a special treatment 
and atmosphere different in character from most general advertising 
campaigns. "Sunny Jim" confronting one at the crossroads would 




A Chicago billboard display 

hardly serve to convince the passerby of the dependability of any 
bank, nor would the "Gold Dust Twins" stimulate the average man 
to greater efforts in the direction of enlarging his savings account. 

Apt as such figments of the advertising mind are when applied 
to the general run of advertised products and concerns, the banker 
realizes that indulging in such engaging forms of publicity would 
injure rather than promote the interests of his institution. And it is 
through a long association of the billboards with that type of adver- 
tising that the banker, an essentially conservative man, has hesitated 
to avail himself of their numerous advantages. 

This, at first glance, might appear to be an objection and a legiti- 
mate one, but after a moment 's careful scrutiny it is readily seen that 
it is an objection which does not hold. 

The billboard lends itself as easily to a dignified and convincing 
treatment as does the newspaper or magazine. In the latter the banks 
advertise freely and frequently brush elbows with the most capricious 
creations of advertising ingenuity and yet suffer no loss of either 
dignity or prestige. In the street cars the same conditions hold. 



ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 31 

Why not, then, in the broad and fruitful field of outdoor advertising? 

During the past few years it has been noticeable that on entering 
or leaving' a town or city one of the first and last billboard advertise- 
ments to catch the eye is that of the local Chamber of Commerce, 
composed as a rnle of the bankers and leading business men of the 
community. It is pleasing to see that these bodies are sufficiently 
progressive and wide-awake to make the best of an ideal opportunity 
to impress upon the motorist traveler or casual passerby the impor- 
tance and advantages of their respective towns or cities. 

If outdoor advertising is suitable for the Chamber of Commerce it 
is conspicuously so for the financial institution. 

The specific advantages of outdoor advertising as applied to the 
bank and trust company are these : 

In the first place, a billboard is sufficiently large to permit of a 
dignified and impressive display compatible with the importance and 
position of a financial institution. 

A strong, well conceived and executed idea or message can be 
placed before the public to the very best advantage. The proper use 
of color and display, for which the billboard is so well adapted, 
greatly enhances the value of the advertisement. 

In the second place, the bank poster advertisement makes a swift 
and direct appeal. It stands out, forces itself upon the observer and 
lingers unconsciously in his mind long after he has passed out of its 
radius. Every day for months and every month for years he passes 
this sign on his way home, his wife passes it when bound on shopping 
expeditions, the worker and his sons and daughters encounter it on 
their daily pilgrimages, and the newcomer to the community is in- 
stantly made aware of the existence and advantages of a specific bank 
or trust company. As time passes, the insistence of this single 
message, its constant repetition, its daily task of reminding accumu- 
lates and spreads until an entire section of a community has either 
felt or been influenced by its appeal. 

In the third place, the billboard display has the decided advantage 
of being able to concentrate its appeal, to work upon the minds of 
a certain group or a particular community. In short, it can be so 
utilized as not to scatter its shot, but to drive home and hit a certain 
specific spot. 

This advantage has been realized by numerous financial institutions 
— by one bank, at least, in practically every city in the United States. 

For example : A new community of home-owners is opened on the 
outskirts of a city or town. This is a community of responsible 
people, the home-owner being, as a general rule, a steady, thrifty, 
desirable customer. One of the quickest ways to attract the atten- 



32 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

tion of this community to a bank or trust company is through the 
agency of a poster or some other such outdoor sign located in the 
vicinity. Once a month the poster is changed, and accordingly the 
bank is able to tell an old story in a new way or to give a complete 
outline of its various functions and merits. Here is direct appeal 
plus concentration. 

Another case: A large industrial plant is opened and calls to its 
door thousands of men and women each day. This industrial army is 
a wage-earning army and as a rule a thrifty and saving one. A poster 
placed where these thousands daily pass, pause and read, is frequently 
a deciding factor in the problem of which bank to choose for the 
safety of their savings. 

Again: The transit facilities of a town or city are extended to 
include a hitherto inaccessible district. Houses spring up, stores and 
apartment houses come into being; factories, garages and moving pic- 
ture houses follow. When a situation of this nature arises it is well 
to be on the ground first. Where capital is being invested, money 
spent and profits made, the services of a bank or trust company are 
always in demand. In such new and developing districts new and 
good business for the financial institution is also developed. The bill- 
board is a quick help in obtaining this business. 

In considering outdoor advertising, of which poster advertising 
is one of the strongest branches, it must, of course, be remembered 
that it is a medium, to be used in conjunction with a bank's regular 
newspaper and magazine campaign. 

In a sense the chain is established in this manner. A man on re- 
turning home at night opens his newspaper and his eyes fall upon a 
certain bank or trust company advertisement. Lifting his eyes from 
the paper he lets them rest for a moment on the car cards and here 
they encounter something familiar. He glances back at his paper and 
discovers that his memory has been accurate; the car card and the 
newspaper advertisement represent the same institution. This pleases 
him and consequently he becomes pleased with the institution in ques- 
tion. Later, when he steps off the car, he comes across the bank's 
poster. He reads it with renewed interest; and the bank may rest 
assured that it has gained a friend. This is by no means an excep- 
tional case. Every day a well rounded publicity campaign acts on 
people in this manner. Men and women and younger people are 
equally susceptible to the appeal of a well directed poster campaign 
reinforcing the regular advertising of the bank. 

The making and placing of posters is already a well developed 
and competently managed business rapidly assuming the importance 
of a profession. The financial institution has merely to call in the 



ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 33 

local representative of the poster company or agency and put the 
proposition up to him. As a rule the results of such a step bring 
conviction to the banker. Every year more financial institutions are 
being won to this particular form of advertising. 

The advisability of poster advertising depends to a great extent 
upon the location of the financial institution. There are some banks 
which perhaps would not greatly profit through a poster campaign. 
Yet it may be said that as a general rule there is a logical place for 
outdoor advertising in the publicity appropriation of every bank. 
Naturally this appropriation would not be large by reason of the fact 
that such a campaign would, in the requirements of most financial 
institutions, be local in extent. Hence the advantage of economy 
reinforces the advantages of direct and concentrated appeal. 

Regarding the signs of The Bluefield National Bank, Vice-President 
R. B. Parrish said: "These are painted boards which we have had on 
the side of our banking house for the past twelve months. We consider 
them the most valuable advertising space that we have been able to 
obtain, and we endeavor to change the copy about every thirty or 
forty-five days." (See page 34.) 

During a rush on a Western bank one time a billboard was set up 
in the street where the line of depositors was gathered, and its frank 
statement of the bank's condition did much to restore confidence. 
Many people dropped out of the line after reading the sign, which 
bore this legend: 

This bank can pay every dollar on deposit. It is one of the strongest banks 
on the Pacific Coast. It has been your friend. Jealous competitors have worked 
to bring you here. Every person in this line should show his loyalty by leaving 
at once. Your money is safe. Why, then, remain here doing an unkind and fool- 
ish thing? Break ranks. 

The run lasted thirty-six hours, but the bank stood the strain and 
remained solvent. 

The First National Bank of Davenport, Iowa, in regard to its bill- 
board advertisement, says: "The sign is painted in colors and is 
much more attractive than the photo would indicate." 

ELECTRIC SIGNS 

Herewith is a cut of an electric sign erected at Union Station, Pitts- 
burgh, for the former First National Bank. Outdoor advertising has 
been extensively used for years in Pittsburgh by nearly all the promi- 
nent banks and trust companies. This display, while not elaborate, 
was decidedly effective. The shield was studded with red, white and 



34 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 




MAKE Y9UR TRiP 

m ■■■„> 

PUASAHTv'** 



'A'.B.A.CHECKS^ 

The Bluefield National Bank. 



wqumc MSIPC 




Examples of billboard advertising in West Virginia 



ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 35 

blue lamps. The name was likewise in lamps. All the lettering was 
white against a blue ground, with a yellow border. The sign was 12 
feet high and 44 feet long. 

The First National Bank of Joliet, 111., calls attention to its electric 
sign thus : 

OUR BIG NEW ELECTRIC SIGN 

Have you seen the big electric sign which has just been placed across the 
front of our building? 

This sign was constructed by the Federal Electric Company and is operated 
by the Economy Light and Power Company. 

It tells its own story. 

Read the sign the next time you pass the building. 



WINDOW DISPLAYS 

There are three banking institutions in the tall Singer Building 
at Broadway and Liberty Street, New York. The Chatham & Phenix 
National Bank and the Pulton Trust Company of New York, located 
one flight up, are regular newspaper advertisers. The Universal 
Savings Bank, located on the street level of the Liberty Street side of 
the building, does not advertise in the newspapers because it is a 
mutual institution and has no funds for the purpose ; but Comptroller 
Raymond K. Meixsell is a natural-born advertiser and he is making the 
best-possible use of the big plate glass window of his bank which is 
passed by thousands of workers and business people daily. 

Mr. Meixsell says : 

"We consider our window advertising one of our best assets. We 
can trace many direct results from this method. One is the opening 
of a new account of $500, and others varying from $100 to $300. We 
recently instituted, what we call 'compulsive saving,' an account 
where no withdrawals are allowed for fifty weeks. With only this 
means of advertising, in one week, we opened thirty accounts in that 
department. 

"We have been in the Singer Building for over ten years, and in 
our present location for two and one-half years. Since occupying our 
present quarters, on the Liberty Street side, we have increased our 
deposits over two hundred and fifty per cent, a great deal of which 
we attribute to our window displays." In this connection it is inter- 
esting to quote a few paragraphs from an article by E. N. Goldsman, 
president of the British Association of Display Men. Mr. Goldsman 
says: 

"No business man would ever think of making an investment 



36 



MacGREGOR'S book of bank advertising 




Window advertising largely responsible for 250 per cent, increase in deposits 

This bank is now a branch of the Bowery Savings Bank, the largest savings 

institution in the United States 

which did not return him a good profit ; neither should any progressive 
storekeeper neglect his shop windows which represent an investment 
on his part, and which, if they do not yield a definite return on that 
investment, are a loss, cease to be an investment, and become a lia- 
bility. 

' ' In order to make the shop window yield the percentage of profit 
it ought to, or make it pay a dividend on the shopkeeper 's investment, 
he has (metaphorically) to make his shop window a salesman. Few 
progressive merchants of today would ever thing of employing a sales- 
man, paying him a good salary regularly, and not give him any oppor- 
tunity to sell goods, and thereby pay a return on his investment. 
Therefore, he has got to treat his window just the same as he would a 
first-class highly-paid salesman in order to make that window sell his 
merchandise. 

"A firm's shop window display is the first introduction to the 
passerby. Whether or not the display makes an impression, or how 
favorable such impression may be, depends entirely upon the manner 
in which it has been arranged. People are often compelled to stop 
and look into a shop window merely because the display has been made 
in such a manner that it attracts immediate attention, despite the fact 
that they may not be in want of the particular article featured. 
However, once favorably attracted, they are unconsciously being made 
customers. ' ' 



ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 37 




Gold bricks as window display 

The pile of gold bricks shown in the cut reproduced herewith was 
on exhibition at the First National Bank of Colorado Springs, Colo., 
for the benefit of members of the American Bankers' Association at- 
tending their convention in Denver. The value of the gold was 
$150,000. It was part of the product of the Cripple Creek Mines of 
Colorado. 

Apropos of this subject, the following from ' ' System" is of interest : 
Window displays for banks, when properly arranged, attract as much 
attention and sometimes exercise as much business-pulling power as 
when they are used for mercantile concerns. 

A bank in a Western town uses its windows for tastefully arranged 
exhibits of the products of the locality. Newcomers to the town are 
attracted, step in, ask questions. The bank employes generally are 
able to perform some slight service for the strangers and thus form 
friendships valuable to the bank when the strangers happen to be 
homeseekers and locate in the vicinity. 

Another bank depends for its effect upon that subtle operation 
which begins in the mind of every man at the sight of money. It 
attracted considerable attention once by a big display of a new 
issue of its own bank notes. Blank notes are printed in sets of fours 
by the Treasury department and are delivered in sheets to the national 
banks. These are signed by the proper officers, cut up and distributed. 
A case full of these unsigned blanks was shown by way of contrast with 
a similar case of worn-out notes, withdrawn from circulation and ready 



38 



MacGREGOR'S book of bank advertising 



to send to the Treasury for cancellation. The display was shown in a 
window inside the cashier's cage to insure its safety. 

Above the exhibit was the sign, "How We "Work With Uncle Sam." 
A booklet telling the story of a bank note, explaining the process of 
manufacture and giving a few ways in which to tell spurious notes was 
distributed to all who asked for it. 

Another bank showed in its windows a list of typical depositors and 
balances to demonstrate how fast savings accounts grow when added to 
regularly. Figures demonstrating the magic of compound interest 
added to the force of the display. 

A sketch appearing in the Plain Dealer one Christmas morning 
was made the theme of an attractive window display by the Superior 
Savings and Trust Company, Rockefeller Building, Cleveland. 

The original drawing by Temple was displayed along with a card 
reading as follows : , ; 




A Cleveland bank made good use of this cartoon as a window display 
This Original Temple Sketch shows that regardless of age 

WE ALL LIKE TO PLAY 

Why not make a game of saving money? Decide on the game that suits you and 
START NOW. Get a recording Home Bank at Window No. 3. During 1918 
save something every day. 

"Superior Service." 



There were six different games suggested by which money can be 
saved. 

No. 1 is illustrated by a recording safe with new nickels, dimes and 
quarters around it, together with a card reading: "Decide to save all 
the nickels, dimes, quarters (select one) received in change during the 
day." 



ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 39 

No. 2 has a full shaving outfit. The card reads: "Whenever you 
shave yourself, drop a quarter in your recording home bank. ' ' 

No. 3 shows a check book check made out for $5, payable to Savings 
and signed I. M. Thrifty. The card reads: "Whenever you receive a 
new check book from the bank, immediately fill out every tenth check 
payable to your savings account. ' ' 

No. 4 shows 6c and 10c cigars, a 6c bag of tobacco and a 10c package 
of cigarettes, with the corresponding amount of new money opposite 
each. The card reads: "Whenever you buy cigars put an equal 
amount in your recording home bank. ' ' 

No. 5 shows a complete Shinola Home Outfit. The card reads: 
"Whenever you shine your shoes, put a dime in your recording safe." 

No. 6 is a duplicate of No. 1. The card reads: "Save every Sun- 
day, .05 ; Monday, .10 ; Tuesday, .25 ; Wednesday, .50 ; Thursday, .25 ; 
Friday, .10; Saturday, .05." 

Frank Wilson, when Publicity Manager of the Guaranty Trust & 
Savings Bank of Los Angeles, had this to say about bank window ad- 
vertising : 

Naturally the business of any financial institution will come 
through the door, no matter whether it comes by mail, messenger or 
personally. However, a person's desire to do business with a bank 
may be aroused by an appealing and instructive display in the win- 
dows of the institution and thus come ' ' through the window. ' ' 

One does not think of a bank as the kind of an institution to dis- 
play its chief commodity in the windows, chiefly because at first 
thought it would be considered impractical to do so, which gives rise 
to the question, "What is the chief commodity of a bank?" 

Generally speaking, the first thought in connection with a banking 
institution is money. To associate money with the chief commodity 
is, however, wrong. Notwithstanding the fact that the bank deals in 
money and its various equivalents almost exclusively, the fact remains 
that service is the chief factor in each and every relation of the bank 's 
function as a national business institution. 

A financial advertising man, knowing such, would make service the 
basic idea of any window display, and as service is somewhat in- 
tangible as an objective thing, it must be reduced in one way or another 
to some form that can be clearly comprehended by the average person. 

This can be done by working out some particular idea of the bank's 
service and featuring the idea in the window with appropriate poster 
cards and illustrations that attract and appeal to the prospective cus- 
tomers. 

It is not always necessary or advisable to concentrate on the one 



40 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

theme of the bank's actual service; many other ways will present 
themselves to the mind of the advertising man. 

The display, whatever it may be, should not be allowed to remain 
in a window longer than one week and only a certain number should 
be devoted to the bank's own affairs, such as booklets, advice on trust 
matters, mortgages, loans, foreign affairs, etc. Other windows should 
contain exhibits that are a service in themselves, such as up-to-the- 
minute national and local affairs, agricultural matters, shipping, hous- 



Showing how window displays attract public interest 

ing, taxes, government bulletins, state maps and trophies, relics, maps, 
photographs, guns and ammunition will attract the people and impress 
the bank's thoughtfulness and service upon them. 

A window that attracted a vast amount of attention in Los An- 
geles was one of the Spring street windows of the Guaranty Trust and 
Savings Bank. This was a war window, containing a regular weekly 
service of photographs from the actual firing line in Europe, officially 
passed upon by the British Government as authentic and again passed 
by the United States censor. A specially designed frame was adopted 
whereby each separate photo was contained within a small frame of its 
own. The back was so arranged that the photos could be changed in 
a few minutes, which was done every Monday morning. The same 
faces were observed looking over the exhibit week after week. It be- 
came a habit with many people to walk a few blocks in order to view 
this service of the "Guaranty" Bank. Imagine the vast amount of 
publicity obtained from this one display. 

There is no doubt that such window displays in any bank are the 



ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 



41 



means of attracting widespread attention; it makes people think of 
what they have seen and talk about it to others. 

Many ideas are to be worked out to feature the advantages of 
saving. Some banks use electrical advertising signs in their windows 
calling attention to the value of thrift and the Savings Department. 
Such, however, are getting very time-worn, and from the experience 
of many are rarely worth the value of the electricity consumed. Win- 
dow cards in warm colors attract considerable attention when executed 
in the proper style. Ordinary sign writing is worse than useless, 
appropriate settings must lend attractiveness, and a general snappi- 
ness be given to the whole display. 

CALENDARS 

Banks have become large users of art calendars during the past 
few years. The bank that puts out something distinct and exclusive 



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Many banks distribute calendars as part of their publicity program 



each year certainly impresses its name indelibly and favorably upon 
the minds of the community. 

If an art calendar is of the right sort, illustrating a subject that 
appeals to the people, it hangs in a conspicuous place in the home for a 
year and sometimes longer. It does not go into detail, but it tells its 



42 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

story over and over both to those in the home and to their friends 
and neighbors. It is worth while that a majority of a large popula- 
tion, when it thinks of a bank, should think of your bank. That is 
what calendar advertising does. 

Art and utility can be combined in a calendar so that it is a useful 
and highly appreciated gift to your customers. For general distribu- 
tion the calendar pad should be fairly large so that the dates can be 
easily read. Some date pads are so small and there is so little contrast 
between the paper on which they are printed and the type, that their 
utility passes almost to the vanishing point. 

The subject matter of a calendar may be anything that an indi- 
vidual may fancy. The buyer, however, should remember that he is 
not buying for himself alone and should endeavor to select a subject 
that is sure to appeal to many persons. Whenever possible, it is well 
to have an appropriate subject, one that suggests some phase of the 
banking business to which the wording of the ad. may point. In one 
instance a bank used a picture of a row of bulldogs, the title of which 
was, "The Committee of Safety." The ad. used suggested that the 
directors of that bank were a committee of safety for the depositors. 
In another instance a painting entitled "Safely Guarded," was used 
and a line on the calendar read, "The officers and directors of this 
bank place every safeguard about the funds of depositors. ' ' 

MOTION PICTURES 

"Times change, and we change with them," is a classical saying 
and the truth of it is being constantly demonstrated in the advertising 
field. One of the new features is the increasing use of motion picture 
advertising by banks. In many communities which support a 
"movie," some local bank uses a "still" or an animated cartoon 
advertisement. "When you consider the fact that the daily movie 
audience in the United States is now around 10,000,000 you begin to 
grasp what a powerful advertising medium is thus provided for any 
institution with the resources and courage to tackle the job of carrying 
on a national campaign through the motion picture theatres. The 
"A. B. A." Cheques have been advertised in this way to some extent, 
but the field is as yet largely untouched by big banks or trust conir 
panies. 

NOVELTIES 

In the banking business the personal touch between the banker and 
the public is very important, and everything that serves to promote 
mutual acquaintance and good-will between the bank and its customers, 
actual and prospective, is worthy of every banker's consideration. 



ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 43 

So it comes about that banks make very general use of that form 
of advertising* which is most direct and personal in its appeal — a 
method variously known as specialty, novelty or gift advertising. 

Specialty advertising is individual and selective, not indiscriminate 
and promiscuous. It can be so handled that it will bring a great many 
prospective customers to a bank and afford an opportunity for the offi- 
cers to get acquainted with them. At the same time this kind of pub- 
licity work helps to keep the friendship and good-will of present 
depositors. 

The all important thing is to have the name, and if possible some 
of the facts about the institution, part and parcel of the souvenir or 
gift, and there should be harmony between the use of the article and 
what is printed on it. For example, a country bank gave away a soap 
holder on wdiich was printed : ' ' Deposit your soap here and your money 
in the Peoples Bank." Another bank which gave away a sanitary 
paper drinking cup printed on it: "Just as this cup protects your 
health, this bank will protect your wealth." 

Just a few of the novelties that are made for banks and sold cheaply 
in quantities to use in this way are these : Glass paper weights, key 
rings, lead pencils, celluloid game counters, memorandum pads, palm 
leaf fans, leather card cases or bill folds, coin purses, vest pocket diaries 
or note books, bronze ash trays, envelope openers, watch fobs, pocket 
knives, celluloid pad blotters, and so on. Many of these things are of 
permanent value and consequently their advertising life is long. For 
years, the author has carried his railroad "commutation" ticket in a 
leather address book and card case given away by a small California 
bank and his small coin purse is a souvenir of a New York State bank. 
He has carried this for over ten years. 

The beginning of the year is the time when many banks are accus- 
tomed to give away advertising matter of more or less intrinsic value, 
such as diaries, desk pads, wall and desk calendars, clocks, rulers, 
novelties, etc. 

These things are good as supplementary to other forms of adver- 
tising. Their cost is often so high that it prohibits a very large circu- 
lation, but when, as in the case of a calendar, a single piece of adver- 
tising is seen by a great many persons during the year, or, as in the 
case of a diary or daily reminder, the name and claims of the adver- 
tiser are brought constantly and in an intimate way to the notice 
of one individual, there is no question about its being profitable pub- 
licity. 

The chief object of a bank's handing a useful souvenir to a cus- 
tomer or stranger is to get his good-will and attention, and often also 
to secure his name for follow up purposes. The recipient feels that 



44 



MacGREGOR'S book of bank advertising 



the bank from which he received the gift is friendly and approachable. 
The souvenir is sure to be shown to others and the bank's name be- 
comes more firmly fixed in the popular mind. 

A note book is about the simplest form of a novelty which a bank 
can distribute. The cover may be adorned with the name of the bank. 
A few of the inside pages may contain some stock information regard- 
ing business law, population of cities and tables of weights and 
measures. 

A bank in a coal mining town discovered that many had a real in- 
terest in securing such a book. It was found that nearly all miners 




: CAPITAL' *'i 



A souvenir pen-knife such as the above helps to build good will 

kept some kind of a blank book with them at their work to make 
records of the day's labor. Although the cost of such a book is small it 
is one of the little things that the workingman doesn't care to buy. 

In another bank a teller discovered that the foreigners, of whom 
there were many in the community, had a great liking for a pouch that 
could be used for money or tobacco. Every foreigner that opened an 
account, or purchased a foreign money order, was given one of the 
pouches — sometimes made of leather, sometimes made of part leather 
and part bright colored silk. This was the means of securing con- 
siderable new business. 

School bags for children were used with good effect by a national 
bank in Pennsylvania, which outfitted most of the schools in its town- 
ship. More favorable comment was received from the general public 
from this bit of advertising than from any other ad. put out by the 
bank in two years. 

There was no question but that the bank's name became familiar in 
a majority of the homes in the district ; there was no question about 
the children being pleased, and, having pleased the children, the bank 
had reason to believe that the parents were pleased. In addition to 



ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 45 

this, there were signs going to and from school, practically every day 
for eight or nine months of the year. 

In distributing this class of advertisements the best plan is to 
give them over the counter. The majority of a bank's customers come 
to the bank at least once a week. Some of these are a little cold, dis- 
tant and hard to get acquainted with. A pleasant word from an 
officer or a clerk with a ' ' Here 's a little present that may interest you, ' ' 
may go a long way toward thawing the ice. 

There are many persons, who come into a bank for change, some- 
times for the purpose of getting acquainted and to "size up" a bank 
and its working force. The presentation of a souvenir gives the oppor- 
tunity to make a closer acquaintance and, if adroitly done, breeds the 
good-will that every bank officer desires. 

A pleasant smile — a friendly letter — a little gift — a remembrance ; 
these things go far with customers, for customers, you know, are 
human. 

The biggest bank's biggest depositor is human. The littlest drug 
store 's littlest customer is human — you and I are human. 

Let us admit and recognize this fact. Let us keep in touch, let us 
be friendly with our customers ; not just at Christmas or on New 
Year's day— but all the time. 

Customers are good fellows, all of them; occasionally a little ex- 
acting perhaps, just as you and I are apt to be, but everything con- 
sidered they are pretty good chaps. 

They give you orders — they help you pay your rent — they con- 
tribute towards your income — they keep your business running. 

Of course you give your customers good service but your competi- 
tors offer them good service, too. So if customers stick to you — stick 
by them. 

Think of them not as your customers, but as individual human 
beings. 

If you can get the public into your bank, you will have taken the 
most important step toward getting their business. For several rea- 
sons this is true. It teaches your location, it makes a mental picture 
on their mind, so that the name of your bank wherever seen by them 
means more than a name. It gets you into personal contact and gives 
an opportunity to make a good impression by your courteous treat- 
ment. 

The souvenir will bring them to you if you do not mail it. 

It costs from two to five cents to mail a souvenir. It costs one cent 
to invite people to call for it. 

It gives an opportunity to write a letter or send a card of apprecia- 
tion to present customers and will tend to stimulate inactive accounts. 



46 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

It may be a means of building up mailing lists by asking each 
recipient of a souvenir to give names of friends. These friends may 
be addressed by personal letters or by cards offering the same souvenir 
if they, too, will give you other names. This is an excellent way for 
city banks to build up an invaluable list of women's names — names 
which are hard to get. Married women of the middle class are the 
best savers, and their names can be obtained only by a direct house-to- 
house canvass. This sort of souvenir distribution will give them to 
you, if the names are asked for. 

Again, when you mail your souvenirs, many of them go to persons 
who do not want them or cannot use them. If you send a notice, you 
have accomplished the purpose, showing that you have not forgotten 
them. If they do not want what you offer, you have that many more 
for others who do. 

Souvenirs can be purchased which will act in the capacity of 
souvenirs and actual account producers. One of most unusual value 
is a little bank for dimes, which has been used with good results. 

Souvenirs, intelligently purchased and carefully distributed at 
your bank, are one of the most useful resources of the bank advertiser, 
but always supplementary to other forms of advertising. 

BOOKLETS 

Many a well written advertising booklet is born to blush unseen 
in the waste-basket because its typographical form and general make- 
up are not good enough to save it from that fate. 

To get read is the first duty of your advertising matter. If it 
fails there, it were just as well not written at all. 

The first thing, therefore, is to plan your booklet so that it will 
be attractive in appearance. Naturally, the title and the cover should 
get the earliest attention. 

Make them interest- exciting. The title does not need to tell exactly 
what the booklet is about. A little mystery is not out of place if it 
excites curiosity and induces people to read the message within the 
covers of your book. 

But a plain statement of the subject of the booklet is better than 
the old practice of printing on the cover nothing but the name of 
the institution in whose behalf the booklet is written. 

Following are good example of bank booklet titles : 

The First Step in Making Your Will 

A Bank for All People 

The Story of Banking By Mail 

A Safe Place 



ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 47 

Happy Children 

Why National Banks Are Best 

Banking Hints to Customers 

The Life Story of a Bank 

Funds for Travelers 

The People's Interest 

One Million Dollars 

Choosing- a Bank. 

Men of Ripe Experience 

The Service Rendered by a Trust Company 

How Savings Grow 

Management and Distribution of Estates 

The Story of a Successful Bank 

If you use a design on the cover, make it as unusual, striking and 
interesting* as your title. As a rule it is a good idea to have the design 
suggestive of the subject or the contents of the book. 

As to the "copy" of the booklet, the same ideas advanced else- 
where in this book in connection with the preparation of advertise- 
ments apply here with equal force. 

Just as it is necessary to make the title and cover of the book inter- 
esting to get the attention of your reader, so it is necessary to make 
your copy bright and interesting in order to hold his attention. 

Short paragraphs and good typography help, but you must go 
deeper than that. It is doubtful if even the best typography would 
make the Congressional Record interesting for continuous reading. 

If you don't hold your reader's interest you probably won't get 
him as a customer. 

Nor is it enough to attract attention and hold interest. You must 
go a step further — convince your reader and get him to act promptly 
and favorably on your proposition. 

In order to do this, try to make your message as personal as though 
the reader were a relative or personal friend who had dropped into 
your office for a chat and to get some of your advice on a business 
problem or on a matter of personal importance. 

As long as you keep before you the mental image of the typical 
customer to whom you are appealing and talk to him as naturally 
and enthusiastically as you would were he before you in person and 
you were thoroughly interested in him personally, you will have no 
difficulty in holding his interest, and if your proposition is all right 
and your prospect is ripe for it you will get him. 

It is important to get your prospective customer to take some 
definite step, to commit himself, and to do it at once. It is human 
nature to put things off. It is easy to procrastinate. 

The time to strike is while the iron is hot. 

If interest is allowed to die out it will be a very hard matter to 
get your prospect to do as you desire and suggest. So there is a 



48 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

psychological and a practical value in the use of an order coupon, 
a deposit blank, etc., in a booklet, and if you print above it the sug- 
gestion: "Fill out and mail this coupon today," or words to that 
effect, so much the better. 

Right here comes up another point which is worthy of considera- 
tion in booklet writing as well as in the preparation of other adver- 
tising copy — the use of the imperative. 

Employed with good taste, the Imperative Mood, Second Person, 
is a very effective weapon in the hands of the advertisement writer. 

Everybody is more or less mentally lazy. We like to have others 
think for us sometimes and tell us what to do. Nine times out of 
ten, the average person will act more surely in the direction you 
desire if you tell him in so many words to "Do it now ! ' ' than he will 
if you leave it to suggestion and inference on his own part. 

When you have a booklet prepared on your proposition it is a 
splendid idea to mention the fact in your advertisements and ask the 
reader to send for the booklet. This enables you to "key" the 
medium used, judging the relative value of the different publications 
by the number of inquiries produced by each. Moreover, the names 
you secure in this way are valuable to "follow up." Such names 
are better than any random list because the persons who write in 
answer to advertisements, eliminating a few curiosity seekers, have 
shown a definite interest in your particular proposition. 

HOUSE ORGANS 

Consideration of booklet writing naturally leads to the subject 
of house organs, which are practically booklets in more pretentious 
form with the additional feature of periodicity and the added in- 
terest and permanency of anything in the guise of a periodical. 

Is your house organ a business getter? It can be made a power- 
ful one, but for satisfactory results the best kind of ability must 
go in it. 

A carelessly edited, inane publication is worse than nothing. The 
successful house organ must be as interesting, as well written, as a 
general magazine, but more than that, it must have the strongest kind 
of pulling power. 

This can be done because it is being done. 

The best point in favor of the house organ is the great oppor- 
tunity it gives for the full and direct personal appeal, than which 
there is no more valuable form of advertising copy. That is what gets 
results. 

The highest attainment of a writer of advertising is to be able to 



ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 49 

make a logical, compelling, effective, argument for cash-with-order 
replies. Success in that is at once the hardest to win and the most 
worth winning. There is no better field for the use of this kind of 
talent than the house organ. 

Comparatively few advertisers can afford what many look upon 
as the luxury of multipage advertisements in the big magazines, 
while for a good many propositions a one-page advertisement pre- 
sents far too little space to tell the story adequately and effectively. 
Experience proves that no matter how good your proposition and the 
medium used are, you have no assurance of full, satisfactory, pay- 
ing results unless there be the most skillful and powerful personal 
appeal in the copy. The limits of the magazine and newspaper adver- 
tising space, as a rule, do not give scope enough for that. 

That is where the house organ comes in. It will solve the prob- 
lem for you if you have the ability at your command to make it what 
it should be. 

The house organ must have a strong human element in it. That 
is to say, it is not enough to present to your readers — prospective 
customers — a truthful and logical argument, important as that is. 
You must do more than that, because most people, the common every- 
day men and women, whose needs you want to supply, are not actuated 
so much by truth and logic as by their feelings and their self-in- 
terest. 

So to your cold facts and judicious statements you must add a 
warm personal touch if you would bring the greatest possible number 
of your readers to a prompt and favorable decision on your proposi- 
tion. To be most effective, house organ copy should be as intensely 
individual as though it were a personal, handwritten letter to the pos- 
sible buyer. 

After all, it is merely a matter of concentration. Instead of try- 
ing to hit all mankind with the birdshot of glittering generalities, 
put in a cartridge and point your rifle of argument at one partic- 
ular man. Single him out and bring your talk home to him so 
strongly, so inevitably, that there is no escape from it, so that it 
will not only appeal to his reason and convince him, but strike the 
very mainspring of his actions and compel him to do as yon suggest. 

The more you know about the value of your own proposition, 
the greater your knowledge of human nature, and the more thor- 
oughly enthusiastic you become, the easier it will be for 3*ou to write 
this kind of copy and get results. 

Just remember this: In salesmanship on paper you cannot look 
your prospective buyer in the eye. The chances to communicate your 



50 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

own enthusiasm to him by methods you would use were you face to 
face with him are lacking. There can be no expressive gesture, no 
responsive lighting up of the countenance, no actual demonstration 
of the goods. In the printed page you must supply this lack by other 
means. Enthusiasm and personality must take another form than 
in the case of a living salesman in the office or behind the counter. 

The house organ has advantages of its own that do much to offset 
the absence of personal contact between buyer and seller. Your 
printed argument can be prepared at leisure, and no strong point need 
be overlooked. If you have the ability to attract and hold your 
reader's attention you need not be interrupted until you have laid 
before him your whole story, and pointed out most clearly just what 
it means to him and why he should act as you ask him to act, and at 
once. 

Then, it can safely be assumed that a large part of your readers 
are alread}^ interested and favorably disposed toward you. This is 
particularly true if your mailing list has been made up of the names 
of inquirers received in response to your advertised offer to send your 
publication free, or if they are to quite an extent already customers of 
yours. 

If you don 't make the very most of this fruitful soil, it is your own 
fault. 

It is not my purpose to make suggestion as to the typographical 
form of a good house organ, except to say that I believe that it should 
be of a high order, and in harmony with the good literary style which 
ought to be maintained in the magazine or paper. It pays to use good 
paper and good illustrations, because even the best copy loses force 
if not presented in pleasing form. The handsomer looking your pub- 
lication is the more likely it is to attract attention, stay out of the 
waste-paper basket and be preserved to work for you. 

But these things come as a matter of course if you have the right 
sort of brains back of your house organ. So I emphasize the impor- 
tance of the man behind. Let him be brimful of ideas, originality and 
enthusiasm. He should know how to give everything he writes a tact- 
ful turn businessward, and he must hit hard and hit all the time. 

It is a great opportunity that is afforded by the house organ with 
a large and specialized circulation. It would be a shame not to take 
advantage of it to the fullest extent, by attractive typography and 
make-up, in the first place, in order that it may attract attention; 
then by interesting matter ; and lastly, and most important, by strong, 
convincing, personal talk, to bring the question home to the reader and 
force him to act. 

Your house organ needs all the common sense, logic, psychology, 



ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 51 

personality and enthusiasm you can crowd into it. If you have not 
enough of those things yourself, get somebody to supply what you 
lack, and then give him lots of leeway. 

In Northboro, Iowa, there is a bank cashier by the name of Frank 
T. Nye who gets out a very interesting monthly publication called 
"The Live Wireless," which lives up to its name, and serves as a 
good advertising medium for the First National Bank of that place. 

As a matter of fact, Northboro is so small that it doesn't boast a 
newspaper — not even a weekly. But "The Live Wireless," issued 
once a month as a 16-page booklet with a cover, does very well, and is 
infinitely more interesting than the average country weekly with its 
' ' patent insides. ' ' 

There is human interest in "The Live Wireless, " as may be seen 
by reading these two signed advertisements from its pages : 

100 PER CENT. EFFICIENCY 
Mr. Farmer, you have barns for your live stock, cribs for your corn, gran- 
aries for your oats and wheat, sheds for your implements, garages for your auto- 
mobiles, you have offered protection for everything on your place, but, if you 
have not provided a safe place for your 

VALUABLE PAPERS 

such as cancelled checks, receipts, leases, contracts, deeds, abstracts, and others, 
you have neglected a most important part of your business. 

MAKE your protection 100 per cent, efficient. Rent a Safety Deposit Box 
of the First National Bank of Northboro and store all your papers in it. 

FRANK T. NYE, Cashier 



LET UNCLE SAM MAKE YOUR DEPOSIT 

Put your check in an envelope addressed to the First National Bank ol 
Northboro, Iowa, drop it in the mail box, and Uncle Sam will do the rest. 

Your deposit receipt will come to you by return mail together with a refund 
of the postage used in this connection. You have profited, because you have saved 
your time for something and a farmer's time now is most valuable to himself 
and to Uncle Sam, and because you have received credit at the bank, and have 
thereby increased your bank balance, and have also reduced to the minimum the 
chance of losing on the collection of the check. 

Many of our farmer customers send in their checks by Uncle Sam. 

W. EL LONGMAN, 

Assistant Cashier 

PROGRAM ADVERTISING 

It is generally conceded by advertising men that program advertis- 
ing as a rule does not pay. In the first place, the cost is out of 
proportion to the circulation, and in the second place the advertising 
receives only a little attention. When people go to an entertainment, 
or to a ball game, or to the theater, they are not in the mood to think 
about serious matters such as saving money. They read your adver- 



52 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

tisenient, but it has little effect on them.. The advertising* manager 
of a large bank, speaking on this subject, says : 

"I ran the same copy in various theatre programs that I used in the news- 
papers and at the same time. I found that, whereas we secured very satisfactory 
results from the newspaper campaign, we were not able to trace a single inquiry 
or account to the programs. The evidence of actual results has been conclusive 
to me. Of course, there is a certain amount of complimentary program ad- 
vertising that we all have to do which could be as well charged to charity. The 
idea is to keep this item down as much as possible. The majority of the organi- 
zations back of these programs not being in any sense objects of charity, it seems 
unwise and unnecessary to patronize them. I have had scores of requests for 
advertising in special programs, club directories, souvenir books, etc., in a single 
day, and I have no doubt that this experience is duplicated by almost every 
large bank." 

In their heart of hearts, most bankers regard program and similar 
advertising as something like a polite form of blackmail, and not al- 
ways so polite at that. Some of them have the courage to refuse to go 
in for any of it. As a matter of fact, that is the only way to do if you 
are going to refuse at all, because if your advertisement appears in 
one program the burden of proof is on you, and you will have hard 
work to explain why it ought not also to appear in this and that other 
program that comes along. But it must be admitted that there are 
certain circumstances under which a bank has simply got to take space 
in a program. Listen to the president of a large national bank in a 
city which has been having great industrial prosperity: "There are 
many workers in the plants of this city who have large incomes. 
Their union has an account with us and not a few of the men keep 
their personal checking accounts here. When they come in to us 
and say, 'Here's a program for our annual picnic, and this is the 
space we have set aside for the First National Bank,' what are you 
going to do ? Wouldn 't we be foolish not to take the ad, even knowing 
that as a piece of publicity its value was practically nil ? " 



CHAPTER III 
ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 

THE commercial banking' accounts of corporations, co-partner- 
ships, firms and individuals — amounting in the aggregate to 
billions of dollars — form the basis for that commercial credit 
which keeps the wheels of American business turning. Moreover, they 
give the banks a large part of the deposits upon which they make 
money for their stockholders. 

Therefore advertising* which starts new commercial accounts and 
develops old ones is of benefit to the whole business community as well 
as to the particular banking institution responsible for it. 

Above all things such advertising should be constructive. It should 
really help to develop business by being clear, instructive, confidence- 
inspiring and action-compelling. Right here I am going to give an 
illustration of what I mean. It is contained in the following adver- 
tisement published in large newspaper space by the Mercantile Trust 
& Deposit Company of New York : 

When it comes to a matter of extending your credit, your bank is in this 
position : 

Close familiarity with your business will often put your bank in a position 
to extend you credit which would not be warranted on the cold showing of 
figures. On the other hand, the less your bank knows about your business, the 
more cautious it must be in granting you credit. 

With these facts in mind, the Mercantile Trust & Deposit Company has 
established one special aim. 

It aims to maintain a close relationship with its depositors. 

Only by such close relationship, we feel, can we serve depositors to the full 
extent warranted by their affairs, and by sound banking practice. Our credit 
policy is conservative. We desire, however, to overlook no sound ground for 

credit extension: — 

m 

To illustrate-. — 

1. Buying raw material at a close price may be very important to your business. 

Sometimes you may need to borrow more heavily than usual in order to 
take advantage of the market. 

If your bank already knoivs the conditions surrounding your business, 
it can intelligently and promptly act on your request for funds. 

2. Large, sound customers may at times be slow in making payments. 

This may leave you short of funds. If your bank already has a line on 
your customers and their business habits, it can act intelligently on 
credit asked under these circumstances. 

53 



54 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

3. With prices up where they are now, it takes more working capital to run a 
business. 

If your bank knows the conditions surrounding your business, it can 
appreciate whether added credit is warranted. 

4. Application to your bank for greater credit may mean that your business is 
in a bad way, or, quite to the contrary, it may indicate a healthy state of 
growth. 

// your bank is in close touch with your business condition it knows 
promptly how to interpret requests for extended credit. 

5. A well managed bank gets from many sources information which throws a 
helpful light on business and economic conditions. 

If a bank is on close terms with its depositors it can share this in- 
formation and help them to decide business policies. 

The success of the Mercantile Trust & Deposit Company, which has been 

marked, we attribute to three things: 

1. Sound bank management. 

2. A directorate of men who represent diversified lines of business and are 
thus able to sympathize with many business viewpoints. 

3. A spirit of personal relationship between the bank and its depositors. 
We cordially invite any business which seeks such a relationship to talk 

its affairs over with us. 

We desire especially to establish relations with business of the sound pro- 
gressive sort, in the growth of which we may have opportunity to assist, as oc- 
casion offers. 

The officers of the bank will be found most easily reached for a personal 
interview without unnecessary formality. 

Deposits are the lifeblood of every bank's business. 

So, to increase deposits is the primary object of most bank adver- 
tising;. 

There are two things to be remembered and especially emphasized 
in going after commercial accounts by advertising. 

Depositors will not come to a bank nor remain with it unless they 
have absolute confidence in it. 

Being a depositor with a bank gives one an "open sesame" to its 
many privileges and leads to broader business relations. 

Nine times out of ten, when a man does not use the facilities a bank 
offers it is because he distrusts the institution or does not know what 
it can do for him. 

Thus the problem of the commercial bank 's advertising, in the last 
analysis, simmers down to this : 

1. Inspire and maintain popular confidence in your institution. 

2. Educate people as to your ability and willingness to serve them 
in specific ways and prove that it will be to their advantage to do busi- 
ness with your bank. 

"Working out in detail the sub-divisions of these two heads is the 
task confronting the commercial bank in its advertising. 

Confidence is a plant of slow growth. 

Advertising of the right sort will accelerate its development, but 
you might as well at once banish from your mind the idea that a 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 55 

short or spasmodically conducted advertising campaign will be of 
permanent value to your institution in this respect. 

Advertising increases in value from year to year as it continues. 
It is cumulative in its effect, and it loses some of its value when it is 
interrupted. There is lost motion in getting things started again. 

ADVERTISING MOMENTUM 

It is just like the inertia and momentum we learn about in physics. 

The non-advertising bank has one kind of inertia — the kind that 
tends to make a body at rest remain so; the advertising bank has the 
other kind — the kind that tends to keep things in motion when once 
started. 

It would be a difficult thing to estimate the full value of strong, 



. Through your bank account 

make your own efforts 

more resultful 

THE fundamental reason for the success of 
practically every Pittsburgh business that 
is succeeding, undoubtedly, is the character, 
initiative and ability of its founder, or of those 
who are now directing it 
But there are other reasons, and among the 
chief of them is a good banking connection. 
In the past eighty-seven years we- have aided 
the success of thousands of Pittsburgh, busi- 
ness men and concerns. 
Today with our convenient location, modern 
equipment, efficient staff, experienced and able 
management, strong financial position and 
membership in the Federal Reserve System, We 
are better prepared than ever to give the kind 
of banking service that business men need, and 
can profitably use. 



FARMERS (g) DEPOSIT 

NATIONAL BANJt 

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA 



Emphasizing the value of a bank account 

persistent advertising conducted through a period of years. The 
momentum of such a campaign is irresistible. 

The bank that thus accumulates prestige and good will, so to speak, 
is a hard one to overtake and surpass. 

It is just as wise to advertise to hold the confidence and business 
of depositors you now have as it is to get new ones. Money is money, 
no matter who deposits it. By continuous publicity along proper 
lines you not only put yourself in a position to receive the accounts 
of the new generation of business men constantly coming up and of 
the newcomers in your locality, but you also cement the ties that bind 
your old customers to you and keep the benefit of their personal in- 
fluence and the word-of-mouth advertising that they do for you among 
their friends, acquaintances and business associates. 



56 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 



ADVERTISING IS INSURANCE 

Thus it will be seen that a bank 's advertising may be regarded not 
as an expense at all, but as an investment and a protection — an in- 
vestment very sure and profitable in its returns and an insurance 
against loss of present business. 

In stating that the inspiring of popular confidence comes first 
and educating the public as to banking functions, facilities and ad- 
vantages second, we do not mean that any advertising campaign 
should be arranged on the basis of first running a series of adver- 
tisements devoted entirely to the development of confidence in the 
institution and then following it with a second one dealing with the 
service offered. 

On the contrary, these things should go hand in hand. It would 
be better to alternate the two kinds of advertisements, or, better yet, 
to incorporate both ideas in all the advertising. 

The mere fact that a bank is progressive enough to be a regular 
and intelligent advertiser is in itself confidence-inspiring, and when 
such ' ' talking points ' ' of both confidence and service as are suggested 
at the end of this chapter are skillfully woven into a continued ad- 
vertising story and the story is judiciously placed, good results are 
bound to come. 

EDUCATING THE PEOPLE 

The great masses of the people and even some business men know 
very little about banking methods and facilities. 

The bankers themselves are partly responsible for this popular 
ignorance, which keeps away from them a lot of profitable business. 

They are responsible because they have not taken the public into 
their confidence in their advertising, and, in the majority of cases, 
have not made people feel that they need the help of a bank. 

That is why there is now such a crying need for educational bank 
advertising. Nothing else will do so well, because readers have be- 
come so used to the strong and interesting advertising in other lines 
that formal cards and bald, unsupported statements have little weight 
with them. 

The nearest approach to a formula for a successful publicity cam- 
paign is this : 

Tell old things in a new way and keep everlastingly at it. 

Now for some definite suggestions. 

The matter of checks and the value of a checking account is some- 
thing that ought to provide a great deal of good advertising material 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 57 

for any institution desiring to make a strong* bid for new commercial 
accounts. 

Perhaps you say: "Why, every business man knows the simple 
facts about checks. ' ' 

Well, as a matter of fact, eveiy business man does not know even 
the simplest facts, as you can very easily find out by asking a few 
questions among your business acquaintances. 

Moreover, here is a very interesting fact in psychology (or human 



When a Business 
Grows 

A manufacturer who is en- 
larging his business selects a 
bank with a conception of credit 
based on an understanding 
of national and international 
markets. 

The National Bank of 
Commerce in New York is a 
vendor of world-wide credit. 
Through alliance with great 
financial institutions of other 
countries, we are able to provide 
customers with exact 
and confidential in- 
formation essential 
to intelligent foreign 
expansion. 



i s 

I .-J 




Educational copy on credit 



nature, if you please), namely: People like to read about matters 
with which they are already more or less familiar. 

Consider your own case for a minute and see if this is not so. 

You are a delegate to a convention, you attend an entertainment, 
go to a ball game, or are a witness in a law suit, let us suppose. Now, 
although you are perfectly familiar with what has taken place in the 
convention, at the entertainment, on the diamond or in the court room, 



58 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

nevertheless you eagerly buy a paper at the first opportunity in order 
to read about what you already know. 

If you discover in a magazine an article about some place you have 
visited, don 't you read every word of it ? 

You are a banker and supposedly know about all there is to be 
known about negotiable instruments, but would you not find a good 
deal to interest you even in an encyclopedia article on the subject? 

In this subject of checks, their safety, their convenience, their 
cleanliness, the business prestige they give the user, and a hundred 
and one other ideas that will occur to you if you sit down and con- 
sider the matter thoughtfully, there ought to be enough of interest and 
value to provide material for a long series of newspaper advertise- 
ments or street car cards. 

And when you get around to the subject of checks again you can 
tell the same story in another way. 

It is a good thing for the advertiser that while human nature is 
always the same the English language is very flexible and the same 
idea can be presented in an infinite variety of ways. 

CREDIT AND LOANS 

Then there is the subject of credit and loans for commercial pur- 
poses. 

There is a good deal of ignorance on this point. Many a worthy 
young business man does not realize just how a good bank would be 
able and willing to help him in expanding his business legitimately by 
timely assistance. But as a rule a bank does not need to advertise 
much for loans. They usually come unasked. 

So an occasional educative talk, like that in one of the National 
Bank of Commerce advertisements shown herewith, would lead to 
desirable business of this sort. 

The advantages of certificates of deposit are not brought out as 
strongly as they might be a good many times. Besides calling atten- 
tion to the desirability of such certificates for the building up of a re- 
serve and for the profitable employment of funds temporarily idle, 
it is possible to feature the interest-bearing certificates of deposit in 
such a way that a National, State or private bank can go after sav- 
ings accounts much as if they really had a savings department . A way 
to do this is illustrated in some of the advertisements reproduced in 
the chapter on savings bank advertising. 

In the same way, as outlined in these several cases, the commer- 
cial bank can tell prospective customers about such features of its 
service as: 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 59 



About Loans, 



The loaning capacity of The National Bank of- Commerce in St. Louis 
is very great on account of its large capital, surplus and deposits. 

A customer . keeping an account. .here and carrying good average 
balances may be readily accommodated in the way of a "loan when he 
needs it. 

To secure a line of credit at this $86,000,006 bahTc it is irecessary . 
for a depositor to make us a statement showing that he is entitled to it 
or else to place with us collateral of value to cover the amount which 
he borrows. 

Of course, in granting a. line of credit to depositors it is expected 
thatf they shall carry deposits with the bank sufficient to justify the 
accommodation. The amount generally required is about 20 per cent 
of the liner desired. 

Men in business, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, generally 
borrow on the strength of their financial condition. Professional men 
and others not having capital put up collateral for loans. 

Owing to the large resources of this bank we are often able, to 
secure capital for meritorious enterprises, business extensions, etc., by 
bringing those desiring the accommodation to people who have money 
•for that purpose. 



The National Bank of Commerce 

in St. Louis 
Broadway and Olive Street 



Telling the public facts about loans 

Commercial letters of credit, collections, drafts, discounts, bank 
money orders, transferring' of money by telegraph or cable, and, in 
short, about scores of such functions and facilities as are hinted at in 
the list at the close of this chapter. 

The fact that the officers of the bank are always ready to give cus- 
tomers the benefit of their expert advice on the matter of investments 
and other business questions is one that cannot be too strongly brought 
out in advertising, but how infrequently it is done ! 

The advantages customers derive from their bank's membership in 
the Federal Reserve System is also something that may well be ad- 
vertised. 

HUMAN CONSIDERATION 



Aside from offering your customers a very tangible advantage 
in thus giving them the privilege of consulting you on matters of 
prime importance to them, advertising in this way serves to bring 
out the human element in your business. 



60 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

A good deal is said about 1 1 soulless corporations, ' ' and it is rather 
hard to get enthusiastic about a great, cold, lifeless, machine-like in- 
stitution. But if you can make people feel that your business is 
dominated by men with human sympathy, understanding and con- 
sideration — men who are not only approachable, but glad to be ap- 
proached — you have taken a long step toward creating a good will for 
your institution, which, while not figuring in your statement of assets, 
will be worth a great deal to you in dollars and cents. 

Along this same line it is a splendid thing to emphasize in your 
advertising the strength of the personnel of your officers and di- 
rectorate, as in done in the following instances : 

The Northern National Bank of Ashland, Wis., in an attractive 
booklet says of its directors : 

Our Board of Directors consists of representative business men of INorthern 
Wisconsin, an assurance to those having business with the bank that their 
interest will be surrounded by all the safeguards possible. 

The People's Savings Bank and Trust Co., of Moline, 111., pre- 
faced a complete statement of the business connections of its directors 
by saying : 

The personalities of the Board of Directors (that is, their success in busi- 
ness, and the careful judgment and business acumen which they bring to the 
management of the bank's affairs) count for more than capital stock and sur- 
plus. The stronger the business personalities of the directors and management, 
the more pronounced and substantial is the success of the bank. 

One or two of these statements are particularly full of human interest, for 
example : 

C. IT. Deere: President Deere & Co., Deere & Mansur Co.; John Deere Plow 
Co., Kansas City; Deere & Webber Co., Minneapolis; John Deere Plow Co., 
Omaha; John Deere Plow Co., St. Louis; John Deere Plow Co., Dallas, Texas; 
Deere Implement Co., San Francisco; John Deere Plow Co., Portland. Ore.; John 
Deere Plow Co., New Orleans; John Deere Plow Co., Indianapolis; Deere-Clark 
Motor Car Co., Moline; director American Trust & Savings Bank and Western 
Trust & Savings Bank, Chicago, etc., etc. 

P. H. Wessel: Practising physician. Has practised medicine in Moline for 
thirty-five years. Has been three times elected mayor of Moline. Held in very 
high esteem by his fellow citizens. Thoroughly prosperous in business. Is a 
member and treasurer of the State Board of Health. 

J. T. Browning: Practised law in Moline for thirty-eight years. For last ten 
years has devoted his time entirely to the care of his property and to farming. 
Large holder of real estate in and around Moline. Lives on his farm one and 
one-third miles south of the city. In 1874-78 represented his Senatorial Dis- 
trict in the Lower House of the State Legislature. One of the incorporators of 
the First National Bank (which was absorbed by the Peoples Savings Bank and 
Trust Co. February 10, 1905) in 1863, and a member of its first Board of Direc- 
tors. He has been one of the directors ever since, and for some years was 
president of the Peoples Savings Bank. 

J. S. Gillmore: Cashier of the bank from 1868 to January, 1906. Upon his 
resignation, board of directors presented him a year's salary as an indication 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 61 

of their appreciation of his many years of faithful service, and of the high 
esteem they hold for him. 

C. W. Lundahl: Cashier and secretary of the bank. Has been associated 
in the management of the bank for twenty-three years. For six years was as- 
sistant cashier. He is one of the most conspicuous examples in this locality as 
to the value and rewards of thrift and economy. He is a real estate holder in 
Moline. Though still in the prime of life, he has accumulated a competency 
by "mere dint" of hard work and careful living. 

Your money is safe under the eyes of such men. With ample capital and 
surplus, fifty years' experience and success in banking, and an unusually strong 
board of directors, you cannot find an institution in the country better qualified 
to attend to your banking business. 

"Men of Ripe Experience" was the title of a booklet issued by the 
Cleveland Trust Company as a compilation of the names and business 
affiliations of the directors and advisory council of the company. In 
the introduction were the following paragraphs : 

The character of a bank's management has much to do with gaining the 
public confidence, which is so necessary to its success. The directors must be 
well known and successful business men who are ever alert in the bank's interests 
and willing to give their conscientious efforts to increasing the business along 
safe lines. 

If the names of the directors be ever so strong, however, and they are di- 
rectors in name only, they are a source of weakness and might better be replaced 
by less conspicuous men who would appreciate the sacredness of the trust im- 
posed in them. 

The Cleveland Trust Company has been fortunate in having had from its 
beginning directors who have been enthusiastic ' in their devotion to its affairs, 
and have given their time and attention without stint to building up the Com- 
pany's business. 

No important action has been taken nor policy adopted by this bank with- 
out the sanction of the majority of its directors after careful consideration. 
The minutes of the company will show this to be true. 



INDIVIDUALITY IN ADVERTISING 

All this kind of thing makes for individuality in bank advertis- 
ing and that is a very valuable point. The objection is sometimes 
made by too conservative bankers who are being urged to go in for 
"educational" advertising that such broad advertising will bring 
business to every bank in the community. 

It certainly will, but if individuality in copy and style is devel- 
oped and maintained the advertising bank will get fully ninety per 
cent, of the new business created. 

This matter of individuality is especially important in advertis- 
ing for accounts of other banks, because the service offered in such 
particulars as collections for correspondents is practically the same 
among all banks. 

The right kind of advertising, such as is suggested in this book, 



62 



MacGREGOR'S book of bank advertising 



will create for you an individuality which will enable your institu- 
tion to get ahead more rapidly. 



SERVICE PLUS PERSONALITY 



Unfortunately there are still too many banks whose ideas of ad- 
vertising are limited to the periodic publication of a dry, cold state- 



m^^^^^m^mM^M^im 11 ^^^ 




Of Course 

we want youf business, but we want it 
oh a basis that will pay you as well 
as ourselves. We want it because we 
have" proper facilities for handling it. 
Don't worry over poor service — sene" 
your business to' • ■ . . * 

"CORN EXCHANGE" 



-*+&■ 



s^SMSilMS*^^^ 




The ear of corn is an essential feature of every advertisement of this Philadelphia 

bank 



ment, while others use copy that while good in itself lacks the per- 
sonality that stamps it as the product of the bank whose name is at- 
tached. Consequently, when we see a bank that puts personality and 
punch into its advertising, a bank that makes its advertising further 
the interests of the public rather than exalt the merits of the bank, 
such an institution stands out in sharp relief. 

This in brief is the advertising history of the Corn Exchange Na- 
tional Bank of Philadelphia, and what makes it all the more striking 
is the fact that the "personality" that talks and breathes and moves 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 63 

through every piece of copy is the personality and broad-gauge human 
understanding of President Calwell himself. For Mr. Calwell him- 
self writes every bit of copy the bank uses. He never undertakes a 
"campaign," he never contracts to use a definite space for a long 
period of time, but when an idea of "service" strikes him he con- 
tracts for whatever space it may need for proper expression, whether 
it be a half column or a full newspaper page. 

BOOSTING LOCAL INDUSTRY 

More often than not the copy will deal with some public question, 
such as local facilities for handling foreign trade, an analysis of the 
cold storage situation or the growth of local industries, and the name 
of the bank will appear simply as the signer or author of the informa- 
tion carried in the advertisement. But each bit of copy is timely, hu- 
man and full of the punch and personality that, by inference alone, 
mark the bank as one whose keynote is "service." 

And, note this — in every piece of copy is found the trade-mark 
of the bank, a picture of an ear of corn. This, too, was the idea of 
President Calwell. Any bit of copy, large or small, marked with this 
famous ear of corn is sure to be read, and the prestige of the bank 
gives its messages tremendous weight. 

The bank has prospered wonderfully, not alone because it adver- 
tises, but because it advertises service and "delivers the goods." 

PUSHING TRADE ACCEPTANCES 

There is no more interesting feature of present-day business and 
finance than the rapid growth in the use of the trade acceptance method 
of commercial credit. 

One reason for the increased vogue of the trade acceptance un- 
doubtedly is the fact that the Federal Reserve Board is advocating it 
strongly on the ground that a wider use of two-name paper instead 
of open book accounts or straight notes will greatly improve the com- 
mercial credit of the country. 

But another reason for the growing popularity of this method of 
financing sales is that so many banks are using advertising space and 
making other efforts to push the use of trade acceptances. 

The First National Bank of Brooklyn, among others, is doing its 
best to induce its customers and others to use trade acceptances. 
Following is a form letter recently sent out by this bank, with satis- 
factory results : 



64 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 



Everybody should be interested 
in trade acceptances 




A trade acceptance is a simple device for financing commercial transactions. 
Briefly stated, its advantages are that it 

—verifies the account 

—puts immatured credit into negotiable form 

—gives stability to commercial credits 

—makes capital more effective. 

The consumer, the merchant, the jobber, the manufacturer, the banker 
should all be interested in the trade acceptance because its general use will 
tend to reduce the expense of doing business and consequently the cost 
of living. 

UNION TRUST COMPANY 

Baltimore 




Pushing the trade acceptance 

Now, when the utmost thrift and efficiency are demanded in all lines of 
business, the First National Bank believes that everybody who does any business 
whatever should know about the use of the TRADE ACCEPTANCE. 

This is a draft drawn by the seller on the buyer of goods and discounted by 
the former at his bank after it has been "accepted" by the latter. 

We strongly urge the use of this method instead of the open book account 
plan because it has, among others, these advantages to the various parties in- 
terested : 

Advantages to the Buyer — It will increase his credit standing. Because the 
buyer is willing to give a definite promise as to time of payment, the seller will 
have more confidence in his ability to pay. 

The giver of a trade acceptance, being a better credit risk, can get more 
favorable prices and terms on goods purchased. 

Knowing that he must pay on a definite date, he will not overbuy. 

Advantages to the Seller — The general use of the Trade Acceptance would 
practically eliminate overdue accounts and save the interest on them. 

It would remove the necessity of heavy borrowing by the seller in order 
to supply credit to his customers. 

It would reduce loss by bad debts. 

Advantages to the Consumer — It would tend to lower the cost of living by 
reducing the cost of doing business, as pointed out above, and also by causing 
lower rates of interest because of the greater acceptability of the "paper" at 
banks, which, like the First National, are members of the Federal Reserve Sys- 
tem. 

Herewith we are sending you a blank form of a trade acceptance. If you are 
a buyer, will you not offer to use such a form in ordering your next bill of goods ? 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 65 

If you are a seller, will you not suggest to your customers that they use this 
better method of settlement? 

In urging the use of the trade acceptance, bankers may well use 
the argument that by signing or endorsing trade acceptances a firm 
makes itself known in channels not usually reached by ordinary ad- 
vertising. It helps credit to have your name well and favorably 
known. Frequently the course of a trade acceptance is something 
like this: The retailer accepts the wholesaler's draft on him. The 
wholesaler endorses it over to the jobber, who may use it to settle some 
of his indebtedness, and his endorsee may then discount the acceptance 
at a bank, which, in turn, may either hold, sell or rediscount it. All 
through this process the original signer is receiving silent but effective 
advertising in business circles. 



BANK ADVERTISING AND FOREIGN TRADE 

One of the remarkable consequences of the war consists of the 
greater interest shown by the banks of this and other countries in the 
subject of foreign trade. This interest is manifesting itself in many 

A Bank • That Knowsimummm^ 
the World's Markets 1 

s = 

The Union Bank of Canada is in a posi- = 

5 tion to offer American exporters advice s 

| which is based upon an intimate knowl- | 
edge of world conditions. 

It is closely in touch with the financial = 

markets of the world through the actual = 

operations of its own Foreign Exchange 5 

Department in London, New York, Mon- | 

trsal, Toronto and Vancouver, and has 5 

dose trading arrangements with banks jj? 

E in Paris and Antwerp. | 
"A Canadian Bank for Canadian Business.*' 

miiiimmmiimmiiiiMiiiiiiUiiiimiiiimiiiiiiiiim? 




UNION BANK 

^CANADA 

Resources Over 5160 000 000 

49 WALL STREET, NEW YORK 

A good foreign trade advertisement 



66 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

ways, and it is particularly noticeable that the banks are changing* 
both the character and scope of their advertising with the object of 
calling attention to their facilities for assisting in extending foreign 
commerce. 

Even the English joint-stock banks, traditionally conservative in 
the matter of advertising, have changed their policy in this respect 
and are now advertising liberally. The great British colonial banks 
were first to seize the advantages of greater publicity which the present 
conditions offer, and they have been followed lately by the most staid 
of the London institutions. 

In this country banks that once thought they had quite enough 
to do in looking after domestic interests are reaching out for foreign 
business and in their advertising are laying particular stress on the 
services they can render to dealers engaged in importing and export- 
ing. 

As a matter of fact many banks that do not regard themselves as 
especially concerned in foreign trade and banking are really perform- 
ing important functions in this respect, for they are aiding in the 
production and exchange of commodities which enter largely into 
foreign commerce. 

TALKING POINTS IN BOOKLET FORM 

Below is reproduced the text matter of a booklet advertising in 
simple language some of the principal points of banking service : 

HOW THE BANK HELPS 

You know, of course, that this bank receives deposits and pays checks. But 
you should know about the other things we do, for, if we did no more than that, 
we would be giving only part of the banking service required by the public to- 
day. 

As a depositor here you keep a working balance of cash to your credit in 
the bank — enough money to take care of the payments you will have to make 
within a few days or weeks. Sometimes you will have more than this working 
balance. Then our Savings Department is ready to handle your surplus on an 
interest-bearing account; or, if you desire an investment, sound securities that 
will yield a fair return may be recommended to you by us. 

Some time you may need a loan — in the regular course of your business, or 
for some special purpose. We are prepared to supply such a loan, when all 
of the conditions are right. 

When you have money to pay in another city, we can furnish you the draft 
you will need. When money is due upon notes, acceptances, coupons, bonds or 
accounts that are subject to draft, our Collection Department will serve you. 
The endorsements upon many notes, acceptances, drafts and checks should be 
protected by protest if payment is refused or neglected. The business man who 
forms the excellent habit of leaving all such papers with us for collection is never 
caught napping. 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 67 



"What A Homelike Bank" 




Ti 



kHAT is an expression 
frequently hear on 
the lips of customers 
and visitors at the Washing- 
ton Trust Company. Our at- 
tractively and comfortably 
arranged banking quarters, 
including the public lobby and the custom- 
ers' room, together with the courteous and 
attentive service rendered by officers and 
employees, make it a pleasure to do busi- 
ness here. 

But in paying some attention to the esthetic and human 
features of business, we have sacrificed nothing in 
efficiency. The service we give is prompt and accurate, 
our equipment and facilities are up-to-date in every 
respect. 



Trust Company 



WASHINGTON 



PENNSYLVANIA 



Featuring the bank's hospitality 

When you travel, we can add to your convenience and safety by furnish- 
ing Letters of Credit and Travelers' Cheques, which you can cash wherever you 
may go. When you are at home or abroad, our Safe Deposit vault affords you 
absolute protection for your valuable papers against loss by fire, carelessness or 
theft. 

Perhaps our greatest assistance to our patrons comes through the direct 
service of our officers and employes. Here is an organization of trained and ex- 
perienced men, each selected for his special capacity to handle a particular phase 
of finance. No one else knows the credit conditions of a community quite so 
well as a banker. No other man has a better knowledge of investment values. 
Few are in a position to see farther into the general financial and industrial 
future. 

The constantly refreshed information of this group of specially trained men 
is at the service of customers. Their judgment upon any business matter about 
which a depositor may be in doubt is his for the asking. Moreover, a word of 
recommendation from these men always carries weight. 

The depositor whose transactions at his bank are such that he can say 
"Ask the officers of my bank," when a stranger seeks references, is able to fur- 
nish the most satisfactory evidence of his integrity and responsibility that a 
business man could ask. 

These are only a part of the items of service which this bank is equipped to 
render. Many of its services are given free of charge and all are rendered heartily 
and with promptness and accuracy. Will you give us an opportunity to serve 
you? 



BANK ADVERTISING HEADINGS 



The heading of an advertisement is one of the most important 
parts of it because, in a great many cases, its effectiveness determines 



68 MacGRBGOE'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

whether or not the advertisement will be seen and read. Naturally, 
to get read is one of the first duties of an advertisement. 

Following are some suggested headings for bank advertisements : 

Helping Foreign Trade. 

The Inevitable Day of Reduced Income. 

America Has Made You Prosperous. Will You Make Her Safe? 

The Personal Equation. 

Safe and Pleasant Banking. 

"Acceptances Payable" or "Accounts Payable"? 

Save on Non-Essential Goods and Services. 

Doubly Protected. 

Sensible Economy. 

Double Duty Dollars. 

Build Up Your Bank Account. 

Large Business or Small? 

Personal Service 

The Will to Win. 

Save Labor and Material. 

Beginners in Business. 

Advantages of "Acceptances." 

The Wise Choice of a Bank. 

A Friendly Feeling. 

Our Service Is Individual. 

Better Acquaintance, Better Service. 

Get the Benefit of Modern Methods. 

Business Is Good. 

Our Family of Depositors. 

Depositors First. 

A Time for Conservation. 

Constructive Banking Service. 

When You Need Business Advice. 

Economy and Efficiency. 

Let Your Dollars Volunteer. 

Doubly Protected. 

Give Up Luxuries. 

How to Insure a Good Income. 

Direct Connections Mean Prompt Collections. 

A Genuine Welcome. 

After You Pay for Your Liberty Bonds. 

Saving — Both Patriotic and Profitable. 

Banking Service Indispensable. 

Your Line of Business. 

Business Thrift. 

The Convenient Bank Account. 

A Great Need — Sensible Economy. 

Avoid Bad Debts. 

Learn Something About Saving. 

Three-Fold Benefit of a Good Bank Balance. 

More Careful Buying. 

A Future Business Opportunity. 

Double the Business on the Same Capital. 

Foreign Business Opportunities. 

Preventing Slow Accounts. 

Can You Double or Treble Your Savings? 

Helpful Suggestions. 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 69 




ssss^f A Cordial Reception 

Awaits You Here 

AT the First National Bank you are 
welcome whether you are a regular 
customer or not, and whether you 
come to deposit or to withdraw money 
makes no difference in the way we treat 
you. We are here to serve you in any 
banking matter, and, within the limits of 
safe and conservative banking, we do all 
in our power to give you jost the service 
you need and desire. 

FIRST 

NATIONAL bank 
IN BROOKLYN 

established 1852 

Broadway and Havemeyer St. 

officers 

JOSEPH HUBER, President JOHN W. WEBER, Vice-President WILLIAM S. IRISH, Vice-President ANSEL P. VERITY, Cashier 

FREDERICK W. KRUEGER. Assistant Cashier RUSSELL C. IRISH, Assistant Cashier AUSTIN TOBEV, Jr., Assistant Cashier 



Hanging out the "welcome' 



Bill of Lading Collections. 

For Business Welfare. 

A "Wealth of Experience. 

Constantly Changing Loans. 

Banking Service for Corporations. 

You Can "Clip Coupons." 

Strength and Service. 

A System That Helps You. 

Helping Your Business. 

For Better Business. 

Aiding Our Customers. 



PARAGRAPHS FOR GENERAL BANKING ADVERTISEMENTS 

The following paragraphs are suitable for use in general banking 
advertising : 

Commercial progress requires good banking service — it cannot get along with- 
out it. We are prepared to offer complete banking service to individuals and 
concerns to enable them to keep pace with present commercial developments. 
We invite you to consult us about your business problems. 

Manufacturers frequently borrow money from their bank to provide funds with 
which to buy raw material, the loan to be repaid when the goods are sold. 
Usually the time involved is only a few months. Not a few of our customers 
thus make monev on short-term loans from this bank. 



What this bank has contributed to the development of this community it has 
contributed with a confidence born of a thorough knowledge of its people, its 
resources and possibilities. 



70 



MacGREGOR'S book of bank advertising 



Capital, surplus, undivided profits; membership in the Federal Reserve System; 
depository for United States, State, county, city; relative standing of bank among 
other institutions in community or country; growth of deposits shown graphically 
by lines, diagrams or illustrations; double liability of stockholders; come in and 
meet officers for mutual benefit; answering questions of public; advice on invest- 
ment, business, etc.; percentage of reserve. 

The number of accounts as well as the total amount of deposits; physical pro- 
tection, vaults, safes, time locks, burglar alarms, watchmen, fireproof construc- 
tion of building; banking by mail; location — as to territory surrounding and as 
to convenience in community; certificates of deposit — interest bearing, transfer- 




"QEND US MACHINERY, 
** farm implements — the 

latest, the best that can be 
made," came back the call of 

the pioneers of the Northwest; and 
there grew up in Minneapolis a great 
business in the manufacture and 
distribution of machinery and tools. 



This fundamental industry has be- 
come an important part of the 
strength of the Northwest. Its vigor 
has entered into the bone and sinew 
of The Northwestern National Bank. 
Representative men who have made 
the implement, machinery and hard- 
ware business a notable success have 
long been members of the board that 
has made a conspicuous success of 
the affairs of this bank 



The Northwestern National Bank 



Minneapolis, Minnesota 



Resources $53,000,000 



Featuring the industry of the community 

able by indorsement, not subject to attachment, good security; directors who 
direct — how often they meet. 



Gkowths of community — resources and industries, how the bank helps; directors 
successful in other lines of business; not a "one man" bank; foreign exchange; 
clerks who use foreign languages; discounting negotiable paper and commercial 
bills; expert heads of departments; depositing all receipts with bank and mak- 
ing all disbursements by check; information department; modern equipment; 
drafts on principal cities of the world. 

Letters of credit; travelers' checks; money transmitted by telegraph and cable ; 
officers and employes bonded; prestige of dealing with a big bank; prompt re- 
mittance of collections; frequent audits, examinations by directors' committee; no 
past due paper; no re-discounting; amount of circulation taken out; success of 
bank built on prosperity of customers; use of a motto and emblem; amount of 
deposits shows popular confidence; surplus and profits show prosperity; estab- 
lishing a credit; how bank's capital is invested; long history shows satisfactory 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 71 

service; table of growth of deposits over a period of years; accuracy in detail; 
how bank has weathered panics; advantages of bank money orders as compared 
with Post Office or express money orders. 

Government supervision; frequent examinations by Comptroller of the Cur- 
rency by committee of directors and by certified public accountants; bank account 
a basis for loans; earning good dividends for stockholders, the number of such 
dividends; conservatism, progressiveness, courtesy; age and history of bank; de- 
tails of National or State supervision; campaign of education on banking 
methods; explaining statements in non-technical language; par arrangements. 

Personal wealth of stockholders, real estate holdings of directors; the laws 
safeguarding banks; banks add value to your property and convenience to your 
business; charging due paper unpaid to profit and loss; answering inquiries of 
non-residents; bank does not speculate nor promote speculative enterprises; 
membership in clearing-house; confidential relations between officers and cus- 
tomers; negotiating farm loans; list of correspondent banks; record of loans 
made without loss or foreclosure. 

Helping young business men; interest on time deposits; length of service of 
officers; making feature of report to Comptroller, explaining its details; pro- 
portion of surplus to capital; accuracy in detail; promptness in execution; en- 
couraging small deposits; having many small notes; directors in constant touch 
with affairs of bank; investment department; bonds bought and sold; conserva- 
tive, safe, panic-tried; build up your credit; our customers' success is our suc- 
cess; a time-tested bank; the quality of securities held. 

Courteous regard for the wants of every customer. 

Officers easily accessible and glad to advise customers. 

Capital in a commercial account is more effective for a business man than in a 
savings account notwithstanding the fact that it ordinarily does not draw in- 
terest. 

Proper use of banking facilities one of the chief aids to scientific management and 
business efficiency. 

Few men ever make a large success in business without the aid of some bank. 

The man identified with a bank as a depositor is better prepared to seize busi- 
ness opportunities presented than one who has no banking credit established. 

Diversified experience of directors a guarantee both of sound management and 
ability to give good service. 

Keeping a good bank balance helps the depositor, the bank and the community. 

Being a bank depositor relieves you of annoyance in getting a check cashed. 

Establish your credit at the bank before you seek accommodation. 

A good banking connection may mean the difference between success and failure 
in an enterprise. 

This is an age of specialists. The specialty of this bank is commercial banking. 

Safety first, profit second, is the rule we go by. 



72 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

We always give our regular customers the preference in the matter of loans. 

This bank ordinarily has about — per cent, reserve, which is in excess of the 
legal requirements and is a notable factor of our strength. 

Cash and credit make a good combination. Put money into the bank and you 
can get credit. 

Tins bank keeps books for its depositors free in so far as their business is done 
by checks. 

Every business man and house should have a reserve fund in the bank. 

A man's standing in the community is raised by his opening a bank account. 

A household checking account is an economy and convenience for the house- 
holder. 

A joint account can be opened by two persons payable to either or to the sur- 
vivor. 

Taking pains to make banking transactions easy and pleasant for women cus- 
tomers. 

The accounting of a customer's transactions involving the payment of money 
will be taken care of by the bank gratis through a checking account. 

More than 90 per cent, of the volume of business transactions involves the ijse 
of checks. 

The business-building service of the bank. 

Without the advice of the bank you might fall into a mistake involving heavy 



This bank enjoys the confidence and handles the business of many of the leading 
firms, corporations and individuals in the community. 

Our strength promotes the stability of our customers' business. 

Mercantile agencies quote the bank's opinion of a man as being the strongest 
kind of evidence concerning his business character and reliability. 

''Constructive banking" expresses the working spirit of this bank. 

Many small businesses have become strong and prosperous through wise banking 
connections. 

Any business or individual maintaining a fair banking balance has a right to 
borrow from the bank in proportion to the value of the account maintained. 

The business man who knows clearly how to use the bank has a great advantage 
over those who do not. 

Courteous consideration of requests even if it is impossible to grant them. 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING -SERVICES 73 



«fo 



«*2 



^^ 



tf-slvr- 



mam 

mmw 




How the Dexter Horton 
Bank Can Serve Seattle 

THIS question is ever foremost in the 
minds of our officers. They realize 
permanent success cannot be built on 
selfish motives — that this bank's success 
depends on Seattle*! 

To aid the business men of this city : 
every possible way is the constant 
of this bank. 

Our service to customers is by no means 
imited to the ordinary routine of a bank 
and trust company. We help our cus- 
tomers in many ways, particularly if they 
need financial co-operation, say to 
"swing" attractive contracts! 

We realize the industrial life of this 
city must be fostered in every way pos- 
sible and stand ready to do our share, 
and more. 




ESTABLISHED 
18TO 

COMBINED- 
•RESOURCES 

THE DEXTER HORTOK 

NATIONAL BANK 

DEXTER. HORTON 

TRUSTAN»5AVin6S BAtlK 

$23,131,862,07 



Serving the community- 



No progressive firm is too rich or too prosperous to dispense with banking accom- 
modations. 

If a bank's investments are good, if its credits have been wisely extended, de- 
positors are amply protected. 

Much is being said nowadays about scientific management of business. Handling 
finances through a checking bank account is part of the most modern approved 
methods. 

You are helping yourself, the bank and the community when you keep as large 
a balance in the bank as possible. 

Our investments are not only safe, but they are such as can be turned into cash 
quickly. This is a vital feature of sound banking. 

Every modern equipment, convenience and system for facilitating the business 
of the bank and its customers is in use here. 

This bank will help you in such a way that you will be able to get better results 
from vour own efforts. 



A bank account means safety, convenience, acquaintance and accommodation. 



74 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

This bank lias so completely systematized its business that the requirements 
of its customers can have attention without delay. 

We make it a point that every business transaction with our patrons shall be 
mutually satisfactory. 

Dealing each day with men in all lines, the officers of this bank are constantly 
in touch with conditions in every trade and industry. 

Frequently we are able to put our customers in possession of facts that bring 
them profit or save them loss. 

In managing household expenditures, a check-book acts as a perpetual reminder 
of the difference between income and outgo. 

The amount of credit granted to any applicant by this bank is determined by 
the responsibility of the borrower, or the kind and sufficiency of the security 
offered and the value of the deposit account. 

This bank wants to co-operate in every way possible with local business men in 
increasing the prestige and prosperity of this city. 

The officers of this bank consider it both right and good business to give eqi.al 
attention to small and large accounts. 

Security and service are the twin watchwords of this bank. 

All our customers receive the same quality of service. If you have only a 
moderate bank balance do not hesitate to bring your financial problems to us or 
if you have not yet opened a bank account, our officers will be glad to see you 
anyhow. 

We allow liberal rates of interest, especially on dormant accounts, and deposits 
are safeguarded by all the assets of this strong banking institution. 

No up-to-date business man attempts to get along without frequent use of the 
services and accommodations of a good bank. 

Establish your credit by becoming a regular and consistent bank depositor. 
One of the foundation stones for the success of a business man is the acquaintance 
and friendship of other men, and one of the most important things is to get 
acquainted early with the officers of a good bank where you have an account. 

Often the scrutiny of a trained outside observer, like your banker, is the very 
thing needed to discover some latent weakness or danger in your business. 

This bank never overlooks the fact that its prime duty is to its depositors, and 
that every dollar on deposit has to be paid back to the depositors. 

With one of our Letters of Credit you can obtain money in any amount within 
the limit agreed upon from any large bank or hotel in the world. 

The value of an established credit and a good banking connection is fully appre- 
ciated when an occasion arises calling for extra cash. 

Having connections in all parts of the world, this bank is able to send money 
for its customers anywhere at a moment's notice. 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 75 

It would be impossible to do business as it is done nowadays without credit and 
the machinery of credit which the banks supply. 

In a Kational bank there is a greater measure of personal accountability laid 
upon officials than in any other corporation. 

We consider the giving of dependable advice one of the functions of this bank. 
It frequently happens that our experience enables us to make suggestions helpful 
to a business man. 

There comes a time with most business houses when for the time being they 
are rather hard pressed financially. It is then that the value of an established 
credit and a good banking connection is fully appreciated. 

'We supply to our patrons every advantage and convenience that a bank can 
safely give. 

The directors of this bank enjoy the respect and confidence of the community 
and bring to the direction of the bank's affairs a wide and diversified experience, 
which is the surest guarantee of sound, conservative management. 

Our officers' and directors' first-hand knowledge of general business conditions 
gives them the greatest possible advantage in directing the affairs of this institu- 
tion. 

The integrity, judgment and ability of our officers and staff of employes have 
been tested by many years of successful banking. 

Our officers are always ready to tell you points of advantage to you in financing 
your affairs, for they must, of necessity, keep thoroughly posted as to markets 
and various lines of trade. 

If we can help you succeed in your business enterprises it will benefit the com- 
munity and the bank as well as yourself. 

Open a checking account here, take advantage of all modern business methods, 
make use of all banking facilities, and make yourself and your business methods 
known to the officers of the bank. This course will pay you. 

When this bank handles your money it helps you even beyond any mere interest 
on your money, by making your manner of managing your funds safer and more 
convenient. 

When you deal with this bank you can rest assured that it is always ready to 
help you in doing that which is best for the growth and advancement of your 
interests along legitimate lines. 

We offer a bank large enough to inspire the confidence of its customers, but not 
too large to give every consideration to the interests of every customer. 

Banks are a necessary factor in the business community. It would be just as 
difficult to conduct modern business without banks as it would be without money. 

On such matters as a purchase, an investment, an extension of credit, or the 
management of a business, a good banker is competent to give sound advice. 
That's his business. 



76 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 



A Progression of Service 
for Our Customers 

Many a depositor has begun his connection with this bank 

by Opening a small savings account. After accumulating a few 

hundred dollars he has gone a step further and transferred a 

part of his savings to a banking account, which enabled him 

to pay bills with his own checks. 

When he could spare money for investment the 

Bond Department wag at his service, affording him ^m-^ ^T~- 

any information he needed, and offering him a selec- p* r ^— / " ~- 

tion of bonds best suited to his purpose. / ., : ;A/ 

The bonds and other valuable papers he could 

deposit for safe keeping in the safe deposit 

vaults of The Northern Trust Safe Deposit 

Company. 
When he traveled his funds were safeguarded in 
the form of letters of credit, foreign drafts and trav- 
elers' cheques, issued by the banking department. 
If he wanted to be away for a longer period, he 
arranged to have his property and his investments 
looked after by our trust department. 
In his -will the "company is named executor and 
trustee, to administer it and to manage his estate for- 
the benefit of the heirs. 

7 'be service of this company thus covered the main 
happenings inch's career and followed bis affairs 
all through life and long after bis death. . 

thenortherntrust 
Company-bank 

CAPITAL $2,000,000 SURPLUS $2,000,000 

NORTHWEST COR. MONROE & LA SALLE STS., CHICAGO 



Showing the many ways in which a trust company can serve a client 

Now is a good time to consider establishing the best banking relations, which 
are fundamentally important to every kind of business. Now take advantage of 
the banking facilities this bank offers for foreign as well as domestic commerce. 



Not every individual realizes just how much help a good bank can be to him. 
It needs actual experience of a bank account to make one appreciate its comfort, 
convenience, safety, profit and general satisfaction. 

Your credit today is what you have made your name worth by years of honest 
dealing, right living and the ability and disposition to meet obligations promptly. 
Let this thoroughly reliable bank help you build up your credit. 

Safety, freedom from worry, ease of making change, getting a sure receipt, build- 
ing up a credit, doing business in a modern way — these are a few of the advan- 
tages of maintaining a checking account. 

The man who is favorably known at the bank has a distinct advantage over the 
one who is not. There comes a time in almost every man's life when it will 
mean a good deal to him to have the recommendation or indorsement of a good 
bank. 

Even though you do not deal in large sums of money, a bank account establishes 
your credit, provides a safe place for your cash, and systematizes your business 
dealings. 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 77 

Don't be afraid to start a bank account with a small sum. We know that small 
accounts have a way of growing. Many of our big accounts today started with 
only a hundred dollars or less. 

This bank will sell you exchange on whatever place you require, either in the 
United States or abroad. Sometimes you may need to remit funds which you have 
not in hand. The bank will loan to you on proper security and forward the 
money wherever you say. 

A checking account makes for convenience and safety. It is the method used 
by all the most important business houses and by a great many private indi- 
viduals. 

If you are giving money as a present, bills or silver do not seem to be just the 
thing. Gold coin is hard to get and not convenient to use. A check on your 
bank for the amount you desire to give is just the thing. 

You need never pay a bill twice if you pay by check. The check canceled by the 
bank is positive proof that you paid the money. 

In order to prove to your satisfaction the advantages and benefits derived from 
maintaining a banking connection with this institution we would suggest that 
you come in soon and talk over the matter with our officers. Others have done so 
to their decided satisfaction. 

We take pleasure in offering our services to the public because we believe that 
our present customers will assure new ones that this bank can and does fulfill all 
the requirements of modern banking. 

We know of many instances where a small business, started by men of little 
means, but of integrity and ability, has through wise banking connections, become 
strong and prosperous. 

The difference between good banking service and poor banking service may mean 
the difference between profit and loss for you in your transactions. 

Banks often save men from ruin, and no man ever makes any large success in 
business without banking assistance. 

There is no better advice we can give a young man starting out in his business 
career than to start a bank account and keep in close touch with the banker. 
This will help him accumulate money and use it to the best advantage. 

This bank has helped a large number of business men, both in times of prosperity 
and in periods of storm and stress. 

Sometimes a bank helps a man by refusing to lend him money more than it would 
by granting him a loan. 

If you are starting out in a business of your own, or have recently taken upon 
yourself a financial responsibility, do not think of trying to get along without 
the active co-operation of the bank. 

The high standard of this bank has set for itself in the conduct of its business 
is a protection to its depositors in every emergency and under all circumstances. 

The profits of this bank are earned by prudent, conservative business manage- 



78 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

ment in which there is not a single element of speculation or other dangerous 
method. 

When you keep a bank account you have the use of all the facilities of the institu- 
tion, the benefit of the advice and suggestions of the officers, and then if you 
ever need loan accommodation, it is yours for the asking. 

Oue service to customers is by no means limited to the ordinary routine of a 
bank. We help' our customers in many ways. Come in and learn why we speak 
of our trust and banking service as "superior." 

Money changing hands makes progress possible. It is the daily "turnover" 
that counts with the small merchant as well as with the merchant prince. Your 
bank serves as a clearing house for your money coming and going. It should 
afford you the means of keeping your money free for use in your business, per- 
mitting a maximum "turnover." 

Many men have started in business with a capital only of ability, hard work, 
honesty and good reputation. Their bank deposits at first were not large, but 
they established a credit which helped them on to success. 

The judgment and experience of the officers of this institution are backed by 
the combined judgment and experience of an able board of directors. 

A check account is more of a necessity than a luxury, and you can enjoy it 
without expense. Ask the man with a check account if he would be without it. 

In addition to our staff of well-trained men and our financial strength, this bank 
has every mechanical facility to make banking with us pleasant and profitable. 

A very influential factor in the up-building of this bank has been the considerate 
treatment we have accorded customers, particularly borrowers, in times of special 
need. 

If the average man made a point of consulting his banker in regard to invest- 
ments offered to him there would be far less good money thrown away and far 
fewer dishonest promoters making an easy living from the ignorance or credulity 
of the general public. 

A checking account is a great convenience and means of economy for the house- 
wife. We have many such accounts on our books and we know that in every case 
it is a great advantage to the household maintaining it. 

The man who realizes the banking accommodations to which he is entitled, who 
knows when and to what extent it is safe for him to rely upon it, is more likely 
to succeed, other things being equal, than the one who tries to get along without 
the aid of the bank. 

A hundred small accounts make a bank stronger than a dozen large ones aggre- 
gating the same total of deposits. That is why we are constantly seeking new 
customers. We want as wide a circle of friends and customers as possible. 

The public demands of the banker promptness and truthfulness, and he must live 
up to his promises in every respect. In turn, the banker expects the same prompt- 
ness and truthfulness from his customers. 

In business, system is generally conceded to be one of the fundamental factors 
of success, and the regular maintenance of a bank account is one of the greatest 
aids to system in business. 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 79 

Desiring to give our customers the best possible service, we are continually seek- 
ing to improve our equipment in every way. 

The completeness of the service rendered by this bank, the absolute protection 
of all funds deposited in its custody, and the courtesy and general efficiency of 
its officers and employes are responsible for the increasing popularity of this 
institution in the business community. 

Good banking service includes a great deal more than you realize if you have no 
bank account at all or do not maintain as good a balance as you might. 

We issue traveler's checks which may be converted into cash anywhere without 
red tape, delay or discount. 

Traveler's checks prevent worry and inconvenience and therefore add greatly to 
the pleasure of a trip. 

There is not only inspiration and satisfaction in dealing with a strong and grow- 
ing bank, but there is also actual profit in it, and the prestige of having a strong 
financial institution back of you is worth a great deal to you in your business. 

The officers and directors of this bank fully appreciate the extent to which the 
co-operation of our customers has helped the institution grow, and they are 
anxious to continue to co-operate with our customers for mutual advantage, and 
are also anxious to get in touch with many more people who need the services 
of a good bank and whose business will be an additional source of strength to us. 

Credit and confidence grow with business relations, and when once established 
with a strong bank, they make additional working capital for a successful 
business. 

Our local experience with local conditions enables us to assist you in the right 
way. 

It is at the bank counter that a man's credit is determined, and the wise business 
man makes every effort to stand well there. 

By our seasoned business counsel, by our prompt, dependable banking service and 
by proper financial assistance, we are striving to do our part in promoting the 
best business interests of this community. 

Greater opportunities are still ahead and today, more than ever before, this 
bank is in a position of service. Its facilities and connections are ample to meet 
the most extensive banking requirements. Its experience gives weight to its 
counsel. 

To build on a rock in the business world one must keep his credit unsullied, and 
he must realize that the best way to do that is by building up a bank account. 

If you have extra or surplus money awaiting investment or anything of the 
kind, by all means deposit it here on interest-bearing certificate of deposit. 

You are doingr good triply when you keep as large a balance as possible in the 
bank — you help yourself and the community, as well as the bank. 

This bank takes special pleasure in aiding its clients to establish themselves upon 
a good credit basis. Don't wait until you want to borrow. Begin to establish 
your credit now. 



80 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 




The Home Woman's 
Financial Affairs 

SINCE women are primarily occupied with hom e 
duties, many of them are inexperienced in regard to 
investments and the care of property. That is where an 
institution like the FIRST TRUST & SAVINGS BANK 
can help them. We are fully prepared to manage the 
property of persons who, on account of other interests, 
poor health, or inexperience, do not care to look after 
it themselves. 

Come in and talk with our officers or write for fuller 
information concerning our services in managing property 
under the terms of a written agreement. This will 
place you under no obligation to employ us. 



W Dig IT 

TRUST & SAVINGS BANK 

LOCUST-N. W. CORNER -SEVENTH 



Banking service for women 

We realize that the principal inducements a banker has to offer the business 
public are security and the pledge of personal attention to business. We know 
that our large capital and surplus, together with the strictest government super- 
vision, make the institution absolutely sound, while the efficiency of its equip- 
ment and service fulfill the other requirements of a good bank. 

A checking account is a time and money saver in itself, and it has manifold 
advantages on account of the mutual acquaintance between banker and depositor 
which arises because of it. 

Because the business of a bank can be successfully conducted only with honest 
men, the bank becomes a force making for public morality in the community and 
presents such inducements to uprightness that none but the most foolish would 
disregard them. 

Paying by check is a great convenience, but using checks presupposes that you 
have money in the bank, and when you are a regular bank depositor, you are in 
a position to get many other conveniences and accommodations from the bank. 
If you have not yet opened a bank account, or if you are not entirely satisfied with 






ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 81 

your banking relations elsewhere, we should be very glad to welcome you at our 
offices. 

This bank is interested in every business and professional man, in this community, 
no matter how small his operations. If at present you have limited means, but 
character and hustle, we want to have you as a depositor and customer of this 
bank. 

Whenever you have occasion to send money abroad by mail or cable, call upon 
us. We should be glad of the opportunity to serve you in any way possible. 

Money you deposit in bank away from home does this community no good. 
Therefore it is to your best interests to deposit your money where it will not 
only benefit you, but aid home industry also. 

This bank gives service along the lines of customary banking requirements of 
every-day business and likewise accommodations adapted to the individual needs 
of the customer. 

Starting a banking connection is a serious matter and ought to be done as the 
result of a careful consideration of all the qualifications of the bank seeking 
your business. 

"We desire the closest inspection of our financial standing, equipment, methods 
and personnel on the part of those who are thinking of opening an account here, 
because we know that w T e can give satisfaction on all of those points. 

If your check on this bank is stolen or forged and is paid to the wrong party, 
you would not lose anything. The bank is liable for forged checks if it pays 
them. 

The good-will and co-operation of its customers is wanted by this bank. We 
desire to enter into the spirit of our customers' wishes and requirements, giving 
due consideration even to minor wants and to complaints, if there are any 
to be made. 

At this bank you are assured of a kindly consideration of your requests, even 
if it is not practicable to grant them. 

We often have "inside information" which is of advantage to our customers. 
It is our policy, whenever possible, to prevent any unwise investment, loan or 
business move on the part of a customer, as we realize the mutuality of the 
interests of the bank and its patrons. 

The owner of a business needing more money, without thorough analysis, some- 
times takes in a partner with cash, or issues new stock, when the real need is 
only a temporary loan. That is where a good bank can help — by the right kind 
of advice and by making the required loan. 

The methods of business as it is carried on today call for the assistance of the 
bank at almost every turn. Your personal appreciation of the value of a bank 
connection grows with your account. 

In becoming a depositor at this reliable institution, you not only avail yourself 
of the advantages of our prompt service, careful business methods and complete 
banking facilities, but you also profit by our experience in financial matters. 



82 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

Ever! man should feel it his duty to maintain a regular bank account and to 
cultivate the acquaintance of his banker. 

PROVIDING a place of safe keeping for money is only one of many services which 
the bank can perforin better than any other institution or individual. 

If you will come into the bank or write us, we will be pleased to give you par- 
ticulars concerning our strength and ability to give you just the kind of banking 
service you need. 

THIS institution lias faithfully served its patrons for a good many years, and 
at all times its affairs have been conducted in such a manner as to inspire the 
utmost confidence on the pari of its customers. 

The strength of a financial institution lies in its capital, assets, its honorable 
history and the ability, character and standing of the men who conduct its affairs. 
Possessing all these qualities to an eminent degree, this bank solicits your ac- 
count. 

DEPOSIT your surplus in this strong bank and take for it a certificate of deposit. 
Your money will earn good interest and will be kept perfectly safe for your per- 
manent investment or other use later on. 

A CERTAIN amount of knowledge of banking principles is necessary to the educa- 
tion of every business man or woman. Through a bank account one gains a 
knowledge of these things as well as of many other facts of business. 

Any woman who has to look after the many details of housekeeping finds it a 
great convenience to pay her household bills by check. At this bank we have 
made special provisions for the convenience and comfort of ladies. 

As a lender, this bank stands ready to aid anyone who is worthy of it and is 
building up a legitimate' business. We want your influence and deposits as much 
as you need our advice, protection, accommodation and services. 

Tins hank welcomes all new residents and new business enterprises. It offers 
its services and protection, particularly in the matter of dormant, idle or special 
funds of business houses. 

We want the people at large to know more about how the bank can help them 
in their business and financial affairs. 

YOU will never appreciate the convenience of a checking account until you have 
one. As a saver of time, trouble and worry the check method of handling per- 
sonal or business financial matters is one of (he most valuable features of modern 

business. 

When you have a checking account the bank, in a way. acts as your bookkeeper, 
and by the return of your canceled checks you get automatically the best kind of 
a receipt for every cent paid out by check. 

THE value of checks as a means of transferring money from one place to another 
has been so thoroughly demonstrated that millions of dollars in checks pass 
through the mails every day. 

We want time deposits and are willing to pay a specially uood rate of interest 
for them. For such deposits we issue Certificates of Deposit which are interest- 



ADVERTISING COM'M KIKJI AL BANKING SERVICES 83 




Number eight of a lerlet 

pARM and city seem to meet in the great Min- 

neapolis fruit and produce district to which this is one 
of the gateways. Here business of enormous daily volume is 
transacted and from this center radiate communication lines direct- 
ing purchases in producing localities far removed and redistribution 
over many states. The wholesale mercantile and produce firms of 
Minneapolis promptly responded to the government's appeal and 
from the beginning have given their full strength and influence to 
conservation of food and material and to other measures for the win- 
ning of the war. 

The Northwestern National Bank 

MINNEAPOLIS. 



Artlefe (ketch of 
uinci In the comi 
row neighborhood. 



One of ;t series featuring sections of Local interest 

bearing negotiable instruments running for a longer or shorter period, as ar- 
ranged. We consider this method an ideal one for the handling of temporarily 

idle funds. 

Every officer and employe of this institution is bonded for the faithful perform- 
ance of his duties. 

Oub directors, all successful men, who have demonstrated their ability in their 

own business, meet weekly to confer on the affairs of the bank. 



Wi; have the financial strength, the organization, the experience! and the facilities 
to render this institution up In dale in every particular. 

-\ ' this institution banking is made easy for women. A checking account simpli- 
fies Hie family buying done ho largely nowadays )>y I he women of the; household. 

Many women do no! feel as mudi al home in a hank as they do in a department 

store. We, take particular pains to make banking transactions easj and pleasant 
for our women customers. 



84 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

If your banking requirements are such as to demand resources adequate to meet 
the needs of a rapidly expanding business, well established foreign connections, 
comprehensive trade and credit information and a thoroughly equipped, well 
balanced organization, we cordially offer our services to you. 

In order to keep right up to the minute in their bookkeeping day by day, banks 
must close for deposits and withdrawals in the middle of the afternoon. Natur- 
ally, that makes the last hour a busy one. But banking, like marketing, is satis- 
factorily done early in the day. If our depositors who can just as well make 
their deposit or draw out cash in the morning instead of near the close of bank- 
ing hours would do so, it would be a great help to us in giving uniformly prompt 
and satisfactory service to all. 

In every respect this bank is suitably equipped to give prompt and satisfactory 
service. 

This bank is anxious .to co-operate with business men in pushing their business. 
There are many ways in which we can help you if you will give us the chance. 

This bank will value your business and help you if you will give us the oppor- 
tunity. 

Maintaining a bank account presupposes common sense, energy, determination, 
prudence, temperance and persistence. 

We are glad to note that many of our depositors feel as if they have a sort of 
proprietary interest in this institution. We hope all our customers will call this 
their bank. 

Every business man worthy of the name realizes the importance of maintaining 
a reserve fund to draw upon when having the use of additional money would 
mean a considerable saving or an extra profit. 

When you pay your bills by check you need not worry even if you fail to get a 
receipt because the endorsement of your check is a receipt in itself. 

Sound and progressive business methods in the bank's management; the active 
participation and co-operation of well-known business men in the conduct of its 
affairs; prompt and courteous attention to the wants of customers and a desire 
to satisfy them. These things account for our steady growth. 

For your own sake, for the sake of the community and for the sake of the bank 
you ought to become a regular bank depositor. 

When you deposit your money in the bank the bank does not let it lie idle by 
any means, but sets it at work promptly. 

There are times when to be able to put your hand on ready cash may mean a 
big saving or a quick profit in your business. 

We assume all risk of loss by forgery. If some one else signs your name to a 
check and we pay it, the loss is ours, not yours. 

We are here to serve your banking requirements, and to place at your command 
the practical co-operation of our resources and banking facilities. Whether 
your needs are local, national or world-wide, this bank through its experience, 
connections and organization, is eminently qualified to serve you. 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 85 

Every department of this bank is separate and under the management of one 
man who accounts daily for his individual work, the positions of the staff being 
changed frequently, so that each department is well checked up. 

Tin: mere ability to draw a check on an institution of the highest repute like 
this is in itself a voucher for your responsibility. 

When you endorse a check or a draft always write your name on the back 
exactly as it appears on the face. 

When we advise you to circulate your money we don't mean to urge you to 
spend it, but to put it into circulation through the bank. 

Depositing in the bank is a duty you owe yourself and the community at large, 
for it is money in circulation that enables business life to go forwrad. 

Do you realize that a considerable part of the service rendered by a bank to its 
customers is without cost to them? 

Through the bank your money is helping along the general prosperity while at 
the same time you are not parting with your money at all, but are simply putting 
it where it will be kept safer for you than you could keep it yourself. 

Payment on a check can be stopped at any time by notifying the bank, stating 
the number of check and the names of the drawer and the drawee. 

It pays to cultivate friendly relations with your banker. Keep a regular account 
in the bank and then don't be afraid to consult your banker in financial matters. 

It is quite worth while for any man to build up a reputation that will entitle 
him to credit at the bank. 

Maintaining a regular bank account through a considerable period is one of the 
best ways to get credit at the bank, and establishing a credit should be the first 
consideration when organizing a new business. 

You cannot expect to accomplish much in a business way without using the serv- 
ices of a bank. 

A conservative bank like this is very particular in the matter of loans. All 
important loans must be passed upon by the board of directors which is made up 
of men thoroughly experienced in such matters. 

We can care for your money safely, protecting it from loss with physical barriers, 
by legal safeguards, and by giving you sound advice on how to invest it. 

Farmers need loans sometimes. It is therefore, a good thing for the farmer 
to deposit in the bank when he has money on hand and thus establish his credit. 

Observe a little and you must be convinced of the truth of the statement that 
it is not to any business man's advantage to try to get along without banking 
connections. 

Closely associated with all sound business is the sound bank. This bank enjoys 
the confidence and handles the business of many of the leading firms, corporations 
and individuals in this community. 

A good business man ought to be more concerned with establishing a reputation 



86 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

than with the art of borrowing money. The reputation established, the power 
to borrow will follow. 

A check should be presented for payment within a reasonable time after issue 
or the drawer will be discharged from liability. 

Don't handicap yourself by refusing to establish relations with a good bank. 
Do you realize that without a bank account you are placed at a disadvantage in 
every transaction involving money? 

We desire to come into confidential relations with our customers. We gladly 
give depositors the benefit of our business knowledge and experience — especially 
in the matter of investments. 

Nowadays banks are indispensable to the business community, and if you have 
not established banking relations you are simply lessening the possibilities of 
your business. 

This is the kind of an institution that can help you in your business. 

You need a good strong bank like this back of you in your various enterprises. 
You may not realize this need, but it exists, nevertheless. 

In loaning money this bank always makes it a point to attend to the needs of 
its depositors first. 

We have a good many customers, but not so many that we ever have to handle 
them in the mass. It is our purpose — and we are succeeding in it — to handle 
each individual case in a constructive way when depositors seek our assistance 
and advice. 

Every business as well as every individual needs ballast in the form of a cash 
reserve to help weather financial disturbance. 

Besides being able to put up the full security required of an institution seeking 
government deposits, the financial condition, the methods of management and 
the general high standing of this bank have been approved by the highest authori- 
ties. 

We especially encourage women to open accounts with us in both our commercial 
and savings departments as we give their accounts special attention. 

The stub of your check book acts at once as a record and a receipt, and this one 
book will show you at a glance just how much you are paying your butcher, 
grocer, milkman, iceman, or dressmaker. 

Our interest-bearing certificates are issued in any amount. They draw interest 
at — per cent., are payable in six or twelve months, and are negotiable by in- 
dorsement. 

A splendid investment for surplus funds are the certificates of deposit of this 
bank. They are just as safe and profitable as most bonds, and a good deal less 
trouble. 

The banker is in position to know a great deal about business and investment 
conditions, being in constant touch with the commercial life of the community 
and of the business world generally. 






ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 87 





CEATTLE- -m 



ild with excitement," 
bays an historian, when Thomas Mercer 
arrived here in the spring of 1853_with the 
first team of. horses and a.wagon. 

Mercer arrived on Puget Sound in the 
winter of 1652-53 from Salem. Or. He -was 
so impressed~with the possibilities that- ho 
returned the following spring with a party 
of friends, among whom was Dexter Hor- 
ton, .one of the founders of the present 
Dexter Horton National Bank. 

And with them came the horses! They, 
were the motive power of Seattle's first 
transportation system. 

'The Mercer conveyance played an • im- 
portant part in the growth and develop- 
of Seattle's industries. Just as the 
present intricate systems- of transporta- 
tion are a vital factor-in the city's in- 
dustry, so the little wagon of Mercer- V 
must be 'given credit for aiding in the .up- 
building of the community. 

Transportation is one of the essential 
factors in the jexpansion of any city's in-, 
dnstries. Systems that may seem ade- 
quate now probably will appear just as 
ridiculous a few years hence as does Mer- 
cer's enterprise. 

.Officers ■ of the Dexter Horfon Netioni 
Bank feel they haye a vital part to play in 
the upbuilding of this city and in so doing 

"to aid_in. every way possible the de- 
velopment of Seattle's transportation and 
other facilities: 




Historical copy 

This bank is a designated United States depository, having complied with the 
requirements of the United States Treasury Department, and is made the cus- 
todian of a portion of the Government funds. 

It is a wise provision for every business house to maintain a cash reserve for 
unexpected demands. 

Remember that with the bank's aid you can be relieved of a great deal of un- 
necessary trouble in your financial matters. 

The name of this institution is a synonym for all that is clean, reliable and 
substantial in financial matters. 



Friends are an asset to any business. Depositors and friends are synonymous 



88 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

terms at this bank, and we know that this mutual friendliness helps both us and 
our customers. 

In our platform honesty is the principal plank. It is this integrity that assures 
the depositors of this bank that its affairs and their interests will be honestly 
looked after and that the funds of the bank, the ability and experience of its 
officers and directors, will be properly used. 

There is a great deal more to the matter of a good bank connection than an 
outsider realizes. Don't be an "outsider" any longer. 

The first of the year is the time when books are balanced, accounts straightened 
out and plans laid for business extension. In making your plans do not overlook 
the important place that a good bank should occupy in your transactions. 

The merchant, the manufacturer, the farmer, the private individual, all find cash 
and credit a good combination. -They supplement each other. With credit you 
can make money. With money you can get more credit. 

At the bank counter is the place to establish your credit, and becoming a regular 
depositor is one of the important factors in building up that credit. 

As a depositor all the privileges and facilities of this institution are placed at 
your disposal. 

Besides being able to pay your bills by check, when you have even a small account 
in the bank, you are enabled to buy goods when the market is low. 

In a check, when the amount written in words and the amount stated in figures 
do not correspond, the words govern. Every check ought to be endorsed on the 
back and as near the left end as possible. 

If you do not know from personal experience the satisfaction and profit of having 
an account in a strong and well-equipped bank like this, will you not decide to find 



Care should be taken in making out checks to avoid errors, for they may be 
troublesome and expensive, but with ordinary caution mistakes need never occur. 
The use of checks in making your payments will prevent many misunderstand- 
ings, and often will save money. 

The greater security which arises from our being a national bank and a member 
of the Federal Reserve System is a source of comfort not only to ourselves but 
also to our depositors. They realize that, while obtaining a favorable rate of 
interest on their deposits here, they secure absolute financial stability. With this 
knowledge they are enabled to lay their plans with a confidence which makes for 
business success. 

Our business is conducted with conservatism, but also with enterprise and up-to- 
date methods. 

Our specialty is the handling of all money matters, and in our organization are 
men who specialize still further in the various branches of banking and finance. 

Will you not now seek the aid of this strong institution in extending your 
field and increasing the volume of your business? 

A banker is familiar with the experience of a great many other business men 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 89 

in various lines and so is likely to know something about your business needs 
which you yourself may not happen to know. 

You can't be too careful about how you put your name on negotiable paper. 
Always indorse crosswise on the back near the left end. This gives room for 
later written indorsements and indorsing stamps. 

It is the purpose of the Government to make the word "National," in connection 
with a bank, mean the same as "Safety." 

The use of checks is a most general and valuable feature of modern banking. 
A business man who doesn't use checks is almost as far behind the times as one 
who doesn't use the typewriter or the telephone. 

No bank can hope to win the confidence and respect of a community unless every 
person entering its doors is assured of receiving fair and courteous treatment, 
regardless of his station in life or his relationship to the bank. 

There is no question about its being an advantage to have a good bank back of 
you. We desire an opportunity to prove to you that this bank is good in its 
soundness, personnel and service. 

With a regular account here you are in a position to ask and receive advice, 
accommodations and the full use of our many facilities. 

It is becoming more and more the thing for women in their shopping and house- 
hold buying to pay by check. 

Money in the bank is a great convenience to you and your funds are safe. It 
also helps the community. 

Together with our banking colleagues, and with the vast army of workers in 
office and mill and mart, we have striven to promote the prosperity of this city, 
and to extend that prosperity throughout this section. The measure of our 
collective success is apparent today in the proud position which our part of 
the country is assuming in the world of commerce and industry. 

When in the course of business events it becomes necessary for a business man 
to broaden his field of endeavor, he not infrequently finds that he must broaden 
his banking facilities also. When your business reaches that point, you may 
well consider the completeness of the financial service offered by this strong 
old bank. 

This strong, conservative institution pays particular attention to women's ac- 
counts. Call at the bank or write to us about opening a check account here. 

There are many factors in the strength of this institution, not the least of which 
is the nature of its policy and control. 

This bank is thoroughly examined twice a year by the National Bank Examiners. 
Five times a year, upon the call of the Comptroller of the Currency, we issue 
sworn statements of condition. 

We stand ready to convince you as to our strength, ability and responsibility 
and to show just how we can help you personally. Will you not give us an early 
opportunity to do so? 

Are you in the proper relationship with this bank to get the greatest benefit 



90 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

from it? One of the first essentials is for you to become a regular depositor 
here. 

We know that our experience, knowledge, ability, system, organization, modern 
methods and energy would work greatly to your benefit if you give us the oppor- 
tunity to help you in your business. 

Progress is rapid with the man who combines good credit with his working 
capital. 

Do you want some help in your domestic financial problems? The finances of 
^lllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllll!li|lll!l|lllll|||inillllllll|!l|lllill!llll!llillllllllllliilllllllllllillllll!llliillll^ 




What is a Certificate 
of Deposit? 



It is a receipt for money de- 
posited with us. 

It draws interest from the date 
of deposit. 
OETROIT It is payable on demand. 

It is negotiable. 

It is issued for any amount, 
large or small. 

It is backed by the entire re- 
sources of this Company. 



Trust 
Company 



OPPOSITE POSTOFFICE 

DETROIT. MICHIGAN 



Hllllllimilllll!lil!lllllllllllil!l!ll!lll!lllllllim!ll!!HIIII!llllinilllllllllllli!IIIIIIIIIimilll!IIIMIIimilllllllT= 

Educational 

any household are better regulated and the accounts more easily kept if the 
money is handled through the bank. 

Our officers are easily accessible and glad to advise customers in business matters. 

In addition to being prudent and conservative in our management, we are alert, 
and progressive in our methods and courteous and accommodating to our cus- 
tomers. 

Deposit your income at this bank and pay it out by check. Thus you will make 
a written record of all your money transactions, which may be referred to months 
or years hence. 

The convenience of a checking account is yours, free of all charge. 

Every few months your investments should be gone over by competent appraisers. 
Possibly some investments are selling at a higher figure than is commensurate 
with the return, and we may be able to suggest others at a lower figure which 
bring a better income, with a profit on the exchange. We invite you to call 
and talk over investment matters, or to mail us lists of securities about which 
you wish advice. 

The more bank depositors there are in a community the more prosperous will 
be both the individual citizens and the community as a whole. 






ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 91 

Tile bank and its depositors, co-operating, can bring about gratifying results in 
the form of more and better business. 

The business-building service of this bank includes credit, advice, discounts 
and safe and profitable handling of funds. 

The needs of each depositor or borrower are likely to be different. We make 
a special effort to accommodate our service to the requirements of all who 
seek it. 

Courteous regard for the wants of every customer is the rule of this bank. 

In making reports to the Comptroller, the directors who attest them compare 
the reports with the books of the bank and examine the bond securities, notes, etc. 

Great risks are taken by carrying one's surplus on the person or keeping it 
about the premises. Deposited here your money is always at your disposal. 

It will help your business prestige to have a bank account and settle your bills 
with checks drawn on a strong, reputable institution like this. 

Our officers will be glad to meet you or correspond with you in regard to your 
banking relations. 

Confidence rests upon belief. The people of this community believe in us. 
They have confidence in our strength, stability and efficiency. 

Besides being thoroughly familiar with the institution's affairs, our directors 
are upright, capable and experienced. 

This bank, in addition to Government examinations, has from one to two audits 
a year by an outside expert bank accountant. 

Popular confidence in this institution is demonstrated by the fact that corpora- 
tions, firms and individuals now have money on deposit with us to the amount 
of . 

Call at the bank and get acquainted. This invitation is extended especially 
to young business or professional men and women who are in need of wise 
business counsel. 

Our directors are men of sound business judgment, who are successful in their 
own business and prominent in the commercial life of this city. Your interests 
are safe in their hands. 

We have certain services to offer you — services based on the necessities, the oppor- 
tunities or the emergencies you encounter from day to day in your office, or 
store, or factory. 

This bank asks a depositor to fill out a deposit slip when he makes a deposit. 
These slips are preserved, and the depositor's slip made out in ink may serve 
to correct a mistake or settle a disputed point long afterward. 

In dealing with firms or individuals at a distance, the best reference you can 
have is the bank where you do business. 

There are manifold advantages of having a bank account and being a regular 
bank customer. Come in and let us explain some of them to you. 



92 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

We want you, Mr. Business Man, to regard this bank as a business ally. 

Depositors have the first claim on a bank, and they are better known to the 
banker than persons who have no dealings with him. 

It is folly in this day for any man to try to get along without the aid of a good 
bank. The sooner a young business or professional man realizes this and acts 
accordingly the sooner he will reap the benefits. 

A certificate of deposit is a written acknowledgement of the bank that it has 
received from the person named a sum of money as a deposit subject to with- 
drawal on demand and the surrender of the certificate. 

As a depositor here you will receive a great many benefits aside from the ordi- 
nary banking accommodations. 

This is first of all a safe bank; then it is an accurate bank, a courteous bank, 
and last but not least, a prompt bank. Your time is not wasted when you come 
here. If there is an unusual rush of business at any time, our officers drop 
other work and go to the assistance of the tellers so that customers do not have 
to wait in line too long. This is only typical of the kind of service we try to 
give here in every department of our business. We want to number you among 
our customers if you are looking for such co-operation. 

In order to get a loan at this bank, you must have good credit, and to establish 
your credit, you must become a regular depositor at the bank and let us become 
familiar with the way you handle your money affairs. You must also provide 
good security and let us be the judges of its quality. 

Paying by check is a modern method of doing business. Each check you issue 
contains the date, number, amount, person to whom paid, and your signature. 

When a person cashes a check he must sign his name on the back as an acknowl- 
edgement that he received the amount written on the face of the check. 

We carry in our vault in ready cash about — per cent, of our deposits. We 
also carry cash balances with our reserve and other strong banks to the amount 
of about — per cent, of our deposits. 

You are always welcome here, whether you come to pay or to receive. We are 
here to serve you and are constantly planning new ways to please our customers. 

Checking accounts are advantageous to those who work for wages or salary, 
housewives, capitalists, professional men, business men, corporations, executors, 
administrators, guardians, assignees, trustees and various organizations. 

We recommend that you maintain both check and savings accounts. Then you 
can transfer money back and forth from one account to the other as the exigencies 
or opportunities of your business require. 

If you have a checking account at the bank you will always feel free to ask 
your banker for advice or for a recommendation. He will be glad to furnish 
either. 

A bank account is worth a great deal to you in convenience, security and business 
prestige. It enables you to draw your check on a good institution like this. 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 93 

Ranchers! Fruitgrowers! 

$G$r4£ers/- call &r this 

valuable free 
book. 




The Bank of Italy is serving 
more ranchers, fruit growers 
and stock raisers than any 
other financial institution in 
California. This bank appeals 
to this conservative/thrifty type 
of men because of its great 
strength, superior facilities and 
far-reaching service. 



Resources Over $80,000,000.00 

Nearly 150,000 Depositors 

20 Banking Offices in 17 California Cities 




Bankofltali 

WVINGS . COW*eCI*.TO«T 



Appealing to a certain class 

Don't forget to sign your checks. This may seem unnecessary advice, but this 
mistake is a common one that causes inconvenience and delays. 

This bank is an ideal institution for business men's banking. Its policy is 
liberal and accommodating. It believes in helping the business activities of its 
customers as far as is consistent with the soundest banking practice. 

We will be pleased to meet you personally to explain any banking feature or 
give you the benefit of our advice on business matters. 

A trade acceptance is live — it is used only for current transactions. A pro- 
missory note is most often given for past due obligations. A trade acceptance 
bears on its face evidence that it is for the purchase price of goods actually 
changing hands. A promissory note may be used simply for borrowing money. 
A trade acceptance is draAvn on the buyer. A note is given by the borrower. 

Our doors are open to the people of this community. Our hopes and interests 
are in common, and in the success of the city, its enterprises and institutions, 
we share alike. 



It will pay you to get such a good financial institution back of you. This is en- 
tirely in addition to the safety, convenience and profit of having a checking ac- 
count here. 



94 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

Your credit being based on confidence, the all-important thing for you to do is 
to build up that confidence by every legitimate means in your power. 

Our success is bound up in the success of the community. We want old resi- 
dents and new-comers to get acquainted with us for our mutual benefit. 

Not a few of our customers keep both a Certificate Deposit account and a 
checking account here, combining the — % interest profit of the former and the 
great convenience and economy of the latter. 

One of the chief causes of business failures is lack of capital. Every business, 
as well as every individual, needs a reserve fund. The bank is the best place 
for it. 

Paying by check gives you a permanent record of what your money buys — a 
detailed account that you may go over at the end of each month and know just 
where your money went. 

To encourage thrifty, careful women we are pleased to assist them in making 
deposits or checks, and to give them advice in business matters. 

The merchant who has established his credit by maintaining a fair balance in 
the bank can borrow to take advantage of cash discounts on his bills, such dis- 
counts usually being greater than the interest on loans from the bank. 

If we did not sincerely believe that we can give you expert help we would not 
and we could not urge you as strongly as we do to avail yourself of our services 
and facilities. 

Suppose the A. B. See Produce Company sells a carload of goods to John Doe and 
Company on ninety days' time: The Produce Company sends with the invoice 
a "trade acceptance" properly filled, which the buyer "accepts" by signing on the 
face. Whenever the buyer wishes to discount for cash he will of course not use 
the acceptance. 

This bank, because of its length of service, its study of and familiarity with the 
conditions and opportunities of this section, its connections, resources and con- 
stant contact with business and finance, has been privileged in the past to con- 
tribute with its neighboring banks, its share to the financing of local, national and 
world-wide enterprises. Today more than ever before it is in a position to con- 
tinue its service. 

Checks are time and money savers; they are clean, convenient and safe. They 
are just as much to be recommended for the householder, the housewife and the 
professional man as for the business man. 

A strict compliance with the rules and regulations governing National Banks is 
here backed by a personnel of the highest ability and proved integrity. 

Your money deposited with us in a checking account will always be subject to 
your call and an acquaintance at this bank as a depositor will help you ma- 
terially. 

Loans, discounts, collections, exchange, letters of credit, interest on deposits, 
advice on business and investment matters — these are some of the features of 
our service. 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 95 

You ought to be a regular bank depositor and have a checking account, because 
you will then be in line with modern business methods. 

In your business affairs take advantage of the system and organization placed 
at your disposal by this strong, up-to-date bank. 

This bank for more than a generation has occupied a leading place in the busi- 
ness and financial affairs of this community. 

As a customer of this strong institution you are entitled to the best business 
advice, all the facilities and conveniences of the bank and such accommodations 
as are warranted by your standing and relations with us. 

You will have additional security, economy and convenience when you let a good 
bank do its part in connection with your business transactions. 

Nine-tenths of the business of the world is done by checks. Why not do yours 
that way? 

In every feature of its banking activity this institution is thoroughly conserva- 
tive. Safety first, profit second, is the rule we go by and the result is we get 
both safety and profit for ourselves and for our customers. 

Individuals and firms find checks convenient, clean, safe and a source of saving 
— in short, the modern way of doing business. 

This Bank looks with satisfaction upon the part it has had in the growth of 
our city and is proud of what it has been able to do to help its customers take ad- 
vantage of their business opportunities. The coming years, we believe, are go- 
ing to be great years for this city, and we stand ready to do our part in turning- 
expectations into realities. Will you give us the opportunity to co-operate with 
you? 

A strong bank must have sufficient cash resources to meet all demands. A large 
amount of money must be kept on hand, all of which would be immediately avail- 
able in case of an emergency. 

Our officers are men of long experience in banking. The directors are not chosen 
because of their wealth, but because of the business ability that enabled them 
to succeed. 

It helps your social and business prestige and credit to pay obligations by check 
on a good bank like this. 

Strength and efficiency are the prominent characteristics of this institution. 

The officers of this bank are at your service. They invite you to make this bank 
your business home. 

One of the most satisfactory ways of keeping a cash reserve fund is to deposit 
it in a strong bank like this on interest-bearing certificates of deposit. 

On certificate of deposit your money is entirely secure, and while not in use in 
your business it is, nevertheless, earning money for you and helping business in 
the community. 

This bank charges you nothing for guarding your money from loss by fire, theft 



96 



MacGREGOR'S book of bank advertising 



or carelessness, although it has cost us a lot of money to provide the proper 
safeguards. 

You will have no difficulty in keeping your accounts straight if you have a check- 
ing account. Every month the canceled checks and the stub record of your check- 
book provide you with indisputable receipts for payments made. 

This bank will assist any man of business capacity to build up his business. 
This help will be extended in such a way that you will be able to get better re- 
sults from vour own efforts. 



Living in Westchester 
Banking in 
New York 



WESTCHESTER 
and Connecticut 
commuters find it es- 
pecially convenient to 
have a personal check- 
ing account at our new 
Madison Avenue office 
at 40th Street— only a 
step from the Grand 
Central Station, near 
the subway entrance in 
41st Street and only a 
block from the Park 
Avenue viaduct. 



There are advantages in having a New York bank account no 
matter where you live. Stop in and let us point them out to you. 



Franklin Trust Company 

Established 1888 





Madison Avenue and 40th Street 



46 Wall Street 



BROOKLYN 
1 66 Montague St. 569 Fulton St. 1001 Wallabout Market 



Making a feature of convenient location 

You will get courteous attention and a square deal here. We desire to have the 
public know that we are anxious to help along the legitimate business of our 
citizens in every way possible. 

You have a tangible means in the check-record of each past month whereby you 
can save during the coming month. If you have just so much to spend, you will 
know where and how to adjust expenses. 

One of our customers was doing business on limited capital. He sought loan 
accommodation to an extent which we thought was not warranted. Upon in- 
vestigation we found that he had many large outstanding accounts. We recom- 
mended that he endeavor to transform as many of these as possible into trade 
acceptances. He took the matter up with one of his largest customers — a New 
York concern of high standing — and found it possible to close these open accounts 
with trade acceptances. We in turn, were glad to discount our share of this 
paper and thus our customer's financial problem was solved. 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 97 

We are confident that you will be so well pleased with the attention and service 
that you will receive at this old established bank that you will become one of 
our steady customers. 

YOUR money in the bank is in circulation while you are not using it. Thus you 
get not only many direct benefits, but your money helps to upbuild your com- 
munity and you profit as a resident. 

You and your bank co-operating can accomplish a good deal more than either 
working separately. 

Come into this bank at your early convenience, meet our officers, and let us ex- 
plain to you in detail the benefits of a bank connection. 

Every young man who starts a bank account and maintains it is doing something 
that will surely raise his standing in the community — both socially and in a 
business way. 

We know that in every respect we are complying with the Government regula- 
tions and that we go beyond the legal requirements to make this institution a 
safe and reliable one for all our depositors and customers. 

The character, ability and experience of the men back of this bank largely ac- 
count for the popular confidence in us. 

Advice, accommodations, collections, interest on reserve funds, these are only a 
few of the many ways in which we can serve you. 

Letters of credit can be issued in favor of two or more persons and can be 
realized upon anywhere in the world where there are banks. 

Any woman who has to look after the many details of housekeeping finds it a 
great convenience to pay her household bills by check. 

With a checking account the housewife finds it unnecessary to keep large sums 
of money in her house or in her purse, and avoids the trouble of making change 
in the residence district. 

Our service includes a great deal more than the average person has been led to 
believe falls within the scope of a bank's activities. 

Remember that all check books, bank books, etc., are free, and it costs you ab- 
solutely nothing to have a bank account. 

Concerns receiving large amounts of small coins in the day's business will find 
that this bank can handle such accounts quickly and accurately. We have 
machines that count and wrap 1800 quarters and 2200 nickels a minute. We 
invite you to discuss this matter with our officers and to inspect our equipment. 

In facilities and accomplishments this bank has kept abreast of the requirements 
of business and industry. It is equipped to render every banking service. 

A bank opens an avenue of advice that leads to the keeping of what one has and 
the making of more. This strong institution would welcome you and your business 
and deposits. 

A good resolution to make now and keep throughout the year is to put yourself 
in a position to derive the full benefit from a banking connection. 



98 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

Deserving young business men we want to hold as customers and friends through- 
out their business careers. That is why we make them especially welcome. 

Cash prices, as a rule, are lower than credit prices. This bank always has money 
for its depositors to borrow and the rates we charge are such that oftentimes 
you can profitably borrow money to take advantage of discounts for cash. 

Becoming a depositor in this institution opens to you its many privileges and 
leads to broader business relations. 

Perhaps some of our present depositors do not appreciate all the features of our 
service to the business community. We want them to find out by actual ex- 
perience. 

We are resolved to do all in our power to promote the mutual interests of this 
bank and its customers. 

Whether your present cash surplus is $5.00 or $25,000, there is no safer way 
to employ it than to deposit it with this bank and get one of our certificates of 
deposit to draw per cent, interest. 

A bank draft can be cashed at any bank while a Post Office money order must 
be cashed at one specified office. 

A commercial depositor not only has the advantage of a checking account and in- 
terest on his average daily balances, but he also gives the bank an earnest of his 
ability to repay any loans made to him. 

What would you do if there were no banks in this community? Do you think 
it would be a very desirable place to do business in under such circumstances? 

This institution has the equipment and the organization to serve you in a great 
many different ways in connection with your financial and business affairs. 

Passbooks are not balanced at this bank. We use what we regard as a more 
up-to-date method — the monthly ledger-posting and statement system. This 
system, is a great convenience to customers and enables the bank to handle ac- 
counts more quickly and accurately. This is typical of the dependable service 
which this bank strives to render in every phase of its business. You are invited 
to participate in the benefits of our service. 

Can you afford to be without what has been the mainstay of the majority of the 
successful business enterprises of the country — a good banking connection? 

Checks are clean, convenient and businesslike. They add to your prestige, com- 
fort and security. Returned to you canceled by the bank, they form the best 
receipt for bills paid. 

It will pay you in a great many ways to establish and maintain regular business 
relations with a reliable institution like this. 

Should your check be lost payment can be stopped, a duplicate issued and the 
money is safe. 

As a saver of time, trouble and worry, the check method of handling personal 
or business financial matters is one of the most valuable features of modern 
business. 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 99 

It requires only a moderate amount to start a checking account here, and you 
will always find us willing to help you in the development of your business when- 
ever we can consistently. 

When temporary reverses come it is a very convenient thing to have some re- 
serve capital or a good credit to fall back upon. 

We have large financial resources, operate under the strictest Government super- 
vision, and have able, experienced and trustworthy officers and directors. 

May we not soon have the pleasure of receiving your first deposit? 

If a bank's assets — that is to say, its investments — are good, if its credits have 
been wisely extended, depositors are amply protected and need no other guar- 
antee. 

Come into the bank and let us show you just how we can help you PERSON- 
ALLY in your business and financial affairs. 

As one of our depositors it costs you nothing to have the great benefits of a 
checking account, although the bank is at considerable expense to maintain a 
force of skilled clerks to handle accounts and to provide the necessary supplies 
and equipment. 

The officers of this bank welcome small depositors, considering it not only right, 
but good business policy to give equal attention to small and large accounts. 

As a member of the Federal Reserve System, this bank may issue commercial 
letters of credit under which exporters abroad are authorized to draw upon us 
for the value of goods shipped by them to importers here. Upon acceptance of 
the draft the bank obtains the shipping documents, which are delivered to our 
customers, with the result that goods can thus be imported without payment 
until actually received. 

You will be welcome here even if you do not at once become a depositor and 
customer. 

The young business man who has clearly shown his ability to conduct a small 
business successfully receives special attention and consideration from this 
bank. 

Our assets are of the highest character. Our transactions are most strictly 
supervised by the banking authorities, and as far as management is concerned, 
there is no more conservative institution in the State. 

Money in bank will not be spent readily for the things you do not need, so that 
a check account as well as a savings account is an aid to thrift. 

To use the bank as a reserve power in his undertakings — the limited partner 
tiding him over seasons when outlay distances income — is an essential thing for 
a young business man to learn. 

Being a regular depositor provides an opportunity for us to get acquainted with 
you and for you to get acquainted with us. That will be to our mutual ad- 
vantage. 

You think you can get along all right without the help of the bank but when 



100 MacGREGOR'S book of bank advertising 




Around Philadelphia 



are some of the greatest of _our country's new industries. 
Immense ship building yards at Hog Island, Cornwalls, 
Bristol, Gloucester, Camden and Chester; huge munition 
factories at Essington, Eddystone and Pennsgrove; tre- 
mendous steel mills at Newcastle and Claymont ; fuel oil 
plants at Point freeze and Marcus Hook— all of these empha- 
size the importance of Philadelphia as one of America's 
greatest business communities: It naturally follows that 
Philadelphia is one of the nation's greatest financial centers. 

With resources of more than $90,000,000, the Girard 
National Bank is in a particularly advantageous position 
to properly handle your Philadelphia accounts. 
We offer our facilities to the business men of America. 



The Girard National Bank 

Philadelphia 



JOSEPH WAYNE Jr.. Pro.id.nl 
EVAN RANDOLPH. V.«-P,„id eIlt .„<, Chi., ALFRED BARRATT 

A W. PICKFORD. A«.tant Chie, DAVID J. MYERS, 

WALTER P. FRENCH 



A bid for out-of-town business 



you have nothing to lose and there is even a possiblity that a bank can help you, 
is it not the common sense thing to do to try the matter out? 

When you have a checking account the bank, in a way, acts as your bookkeeper, 
and by the return of your canceled checks, you get, automatically, the best kind 
of a receipt for every cent paid out by check. 

One of the advantages of having a checking account is that then you are not 
compelled to meet the rebuffs that usually go with the effort to get checks cashed 
by friends or at banks where you are unknown. 

The directors of this bank are men who have demonstrated great prudence in 
the management of their own business activities. They are men of integrity, 
good judgment and ability. 

If you once have a check account in a good bank you will never want to be with- 
out its convenience and safety. 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 101 

To help our customers who are interested in foreign trade, we have established a 
Foreign Trade Department and are in a position to give you or get for you any 
information you may require in connection with your efforts to extend your 
business to the foreign field. We also have a Foreign Exchange Department 
through which we issue letters of credit, drafts and traveler's checks payable in 
foreign countries. 

There is no more conservative financial institution in this city than this bank. 
It turns down proffered investments which are not A No. 1. It refuses accounts 
that appear likely to demand accommodations that cannot be safely granted. 

The small merchant or producer whose business is growing will not be satisfied 
with a savings account when he discovers that his working capital has increased 
value in a commercial account, because it is more effective. 

Build up your credit and paper you present is not likely to be questioned. It is 
at the bank that your credit is established, and the best time to do it is before 
you seek favors and accommodations. 

This bank has been in existence for years. Its policy is conservative, but 

at the same time it is in full accord with modern ideas. Therefore, the condition 
of the institution has always been sound and its growth satisfactory. 

Most persons start their business relations with the bank by opening a savings 
account. But if you are engaged in business you will soon find that a savings 
account does not answer all of your requirements. 

The officers will be glad to talk over banking relations with you at any time and 
pledge themselves to serve your interests faithfully when you entrust your busi- 
ness to this strong institution. 

Many of our large depositors started as small ones. We have seen accounts 
grow steadily, and we are glad ft> say that we have helped our customers to in- 
crease their business and deposits. 

The value of checks as a means of transferring money from one place to anothe~ 
has been so thoroughly demonstrated that millions of dollars in checks safeiy 
pass through the mails daily. 

As a customer of this institution you are entitled to the many privileges and 
accommodations which only the regular bank depositor can enjoy. 

We seek an opportunity to convince you that this strong, conservative, but 
progressive institution can help you increase your resources and make your 
business grow. Will you grant us the opportunity? 

Our many years' banking experience and our intimate knowledge of local and 
general business conditions can be of great service to you in your business plans. 
Close co-operation with our customers for their best interests, and ours, is one 
of our traditional policies. We can offer you every banking service your business 
requires, and invite you to consult with us about banking matters. 

The credit rating of the buyer who uses trade acceptances will necessarily be 
better than that of the man who insists on a long open account. It is also in- 
evitable that better terms can be given to the concern which uses acceptances. 

When you buy a draft at the bank have it drawn payable to your order and in- 



102 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

dorse it over to the person whom you wish to pay, then the draft is of value to 
no one else. 

When you have saved at least $50 or have a surplus of cash above that amount 
you can do nothing wiser than to deposit it with this strong bank and get a 
Certificate of Deposit — a safe, convenient and profitable form of investment. 

If you have a checking account here this company will gather your hundreds of 
small items of money into one lump and will let you pay it out again in a mul- 
titude of little items in the form of checks. 

Without charge, this institution keeps books for you, in that it keeps track of 
your receipts and disbursements, sending back to you receipts from your creditors 
in the form of canceled checks. 

The merchant who takes advantage of the discount for prepayment enjoys better 
credit and makes an additional profit. 

We try to take from banking all the terrors which unfamiliar ity with its usages 
has given it in the minds of many women. It will help your wife in her do- 
mestic economy if you start an account for her with this strong bank so that 
she may pay all household bills by check. 

A bank and its patrons are mutually helpful and co-operation is advantageous 
to all concerned. 

The average housekeeper should be in a position to keep a bank account, and she 
would find it an immense convenience and saving. We want YOU to consider 
this matter seriously now as you read this advertisement. 

A conservative policy in managing the affairs of a bank adds to the security of 
its depositors. Likewise the success of every bank, from the stockholders' point 
of view, depends upon acquiring public confidence and thus increasing business. 

This bank, being governed by the rules of the Clearing House, follows closely 
its recommendation in regard to interest on deposits. We believe that con- 
servatism along this line helps to keep down the cost of living and the cost of 
doing business. Consequently on average balances of $1000 we pay interest at 
the rate of 2 per cent, a year. We believe that the conservatism manifested in 
this way is worth more to you than a higher rate with possibly a smaller margin 
of safety. 

The greatest advantage of a bank account often is the actual amount of money 
accumulated, which is a valuable reserve for present or future requirements. 

The president of this bank exercises a general oversight in its affairs, with spe- 
cial duties as chairman of the board directors. He is always approachable and 
ready to consider carefully the requirements of the bank's customers. 

The bank safeguards monev, makes its handling accurate and convenient, pro- 
motes the exchange of business transactions from one section to another and 
encourages the saving of money. 

If a depositor draws several checks aggregating more than he has standing to his 
credit, the bank pavs them in the order of presentation, without regard to dates 
or numbers, until the depositor's credit is exhausted. 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 103 

All drafts, after they are paid, are canceled and returned to the bank issuing 
them. They are kept by the bank for a long time so that they can be seen if 
necessary. 

Your personal business interests would be bettered by a bank connection. We 
believe that this bank can serve you advantageously. 

You cannot afford to be in business or handle your personal finances without 
taking advantage of the great convenience and protection afforded by the bank. 

Get into the proper relation with this efficient institution to derive the utmost 
benefit from its up-to-date banking facilities and the intelligent service which 
we are able to give, and habitually do give to all our customers. 

You will never fully appreciate the convenience of a checking account until you 
have one, and use the bank regularly. 

If you have not already joined forces with us, come at once. We will safeguard 
your money and help you in your business. 

Our certificates of deposit are issued in any amount, payable in any stated time. 

They earn per cent, interest and are payable to order and negotiable at all 

times, making a good investment and valuable collateral. 

At this bank our first thought is for the depositor — his safety, his convenience, 
his comfort. We make a careful study of the needs of each customer and strive 
to fit our service to his requirements. We try to save time and trouble for our 
customers by such special service as the personal delivery of monthly statements 
to depositors in the downtown section, and in all our dealings with the public 
courtesy is our watchword. 

The tellers in this institution are efficient in their work and courteous in their 
treatment of customers and inquirers. 

Will you not make a personal application of this matter now by getting into 
touch with this bank? 

Paying by check you obtain a positive receipt and take a step forward in others' 
estimation by showing that you are progressive and carry a bank account. 

If you become a depositor in this bank there is one important service we will 
perform for you without charge — the accounting and auditing of all transactions 
involving the payment of money. 

Our hope and effort shall be to serve you so well that you will be pleased to 
recommend to your friends this bank and its services in all matters of banking. 

In any prosperous business surplus accumulates year after year. Such surplus 
funds can be profitably deposited in this bank, whose loans are unusually safe- 
guarded and which pays interest on time deposits. 

All the money you deposit with us is safeguarded by approved and up-to-date 
methods, strong legal restrictions and the ability and integrity of our officers 
and directors. 

When collections are slow and capital is tied up in stocks of merchandise the 
wise man goes to his banker for funds with which to maintain his credit. 



104 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

We have been in business here for many years, and in all that time not one cent 
has been lost by depositors, while we have paid out thousands of dollars in in- 
terest on deposits and have assisted a great many of our customers in their 
business. 

If you have not yet found out by actual experience the manifold benefits of a 
checking account come in and see us about it at your earliest convenience. Our 
officers will be glad to meet you and talk over banking matters with you. 

Ample capital and surplus guarantee the safety of this bank and assure its 
ability to accommodate its patrons. 

Young men, get a good bank back of you. It will be a factor in your success. 
Come in and talk with us about this. 

Our Foreign Department is thoroughly equipped to handle any kind of a foreign 
transaction and in addition to supplying a comprehensive service, offers you the 
convenience of dealing with an institution close at hand. 

There is no one thing that contributes more to develop a good credit than the 
maintenance of a satisfactory checking account in a substantial institution like 
this. 

If you are not entirely familiar with the advantages of a checking account come 
in and see us at your convenience. You will be welcome to all the information 
and help we can give you. We want you to learn to take full advantage of every 
facility this bank offers you. 

Becoming a depositor with this institution will open up to you many new priv- 
ileges. Call or write to learn how we can help you in your business. 

We have the character, the organization, the experience, the legal safeguards and 
the financial responsibility to give the soundest and most efficient service to the 
business community. 

A check book in your pocket with a balance to your credit in the bank gives you 
the "exact change"; a legal receipt for the money you pay out; if lost it is no 
more than losing so much blank paper; it enables you to pay by mail instead of 
wasting time calling on creditors. 

For money you do not need immediately our certificate of deposit is a very de- 
sirable investment — better than a savings bank account, because it is not sub- 
ject to restrictions, like the 60-day rule. 

A certificate of deposit is immediately negotiable through any bank; it is not 
subject to arbitrary interest periods like the savings account, but draws interest 
from the day the money is deposited until the day it is withdrawn. 

You get from your bank more than you put in because you enjoy the full benefit 
of the experience, organization, ability and energy of a strong and completely 
equipped institution. 

A strongly organized bank like this gathers the working capital of a community 
and sets it at work in various industries and enterprises. 

A strong directorate and an able executive staff assure wise management and 
prompt service at this bank. 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 105 

Practical business men of vision control and manage this bank — men who know 
the banking requirements of modern business and who daily are applying that 
knowledge constructively in rendering the best banking service. Co-operation 
with their customers is regarded as a paramount duty by the officers and staff. 

Bank drafts are bank money orders and their usefulness is wider than that of 
either Post Office or express money orders. 

Our sole business is to handle money matters, and our success is in direct ratio 
with the success of our customers. 

The success of our patrons and the progress of the community are vital factors 
of our own success. We feel that your interests and ours are in many particulars 
mutual. 

Our advice to you, born of long experience in banking and other business, is, get 
in touch with the bank ; it will mean a great deal to you in your business career. 

This bank is able to draw direct on its correspondents everywhere in this country 
and in the British Isles, on the Continent of Europe and in the Far East. 

In establishing banking relations with us and building up a credit, you are simply 
putting yourself in line with the modern method of business in which credit 
figures very largely. 

You can transact your financial business with pleasure here; our bank is con- 
veniently located and we offer every courtesy and attention to women customers. 

This bank considers it part of its business to help its customers in every reason- 
able and legitimate way. Open a checking account now, or if you have idle 
money, deposit it with us on interest-bearing certificate of deposit. 

Our facilities are excellent and we handle local and out-of-town business promptly. 
We want to serve you. 

There is usually a long delay in getting money refunded in case a postal or ex- 
press money order goes astray. The safe and convenient way to forward money 
is by bank draft. It can be duplicated with far less trouble in case the original 
is lost, and it costs you less. 

To increase your business it will be a great help to have the benefit of our knowl- 
edge and experience which are yours to command as a depositor at this bank. 

Your money in the bank keeps the mills running, employs labor and helps to make 
prosperous times for all. 

The use of trade acceptances means that money will be collected at the time it 
is due. As this method of payment becomes general, the cost of handling goods 
in every line of business will be lessened, by the lessening of slow collections, bad 
debts, and other wastes that attend long credits. 

Many who have a surplus over their present needs take advantage of the liberal 
rate of interest we pay on certificates of deposit, adding generously to their in- 
come, and keeping their money in safety until they want it. 

We know that we can help you and that you can help us. Step into the bank 
and get acquainted with our officers. Come in whether you are ready to open 
an account now or not. 



106 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

If you are about to go abroad come in and learn about a convenient and depend- 
able method of having funds constantly available for use while traveling. 

A particular point of our service is the fact that we have special men for each 
department. Here you will not find one man doing the work of two or three and 
doing it indifferently. We believe in specialization for good service. 

We want the thrifty people of this community, householders and business men, 
to learn the value of a bank account to preserve surplus from the imagined neces- 
sity of spending which is felt if your money is too readily accessible when the 
impulse comes to spend it. 

If you are starting in business you will soon find that you cannot carry that 
business far unless you establish credit at the bank. 

A large number of depositors has been attracted to this bank by its solidity, its 
progressiveness, its large loaning capacity, its accommodating spirit, and by 
the able, substantial and conscientious men behind it. 

Even if you expect to pay out immediately the entire amount of your deposit, 
bring it to this bank, for we firmly believe that if you can learn how safe and 
convenient it is to pay out by check you will never do otherwise. 

In cashing checks here you will receive only crisp, new bills and clean silver. We 
have very neat check books for ladies. 

Directly or indirectly, the bank affects every individual in the community. The 
more directly it affects you the greater benefit you will derive. 

Come in and learn how we are able and willing to help you in financial matters. 

In these times business men cannot be too well advised in regard to matters of 
finance and trade. We have information, experience and facilities which we are 
confident would be of great benefit to you if you are confronted with problems in 
your business. Come in and consult us and let us see if there isn't some way in 
which we can co-operate to our mutual advantage. 

The business man who is displeased when his credit is inquired into has some- 
thing yet to learn. Credit is based on confidence, and the best way to keep con- 
fidence is to be willing to show at all times that it is merited. 

Stand by the bank and it will stand by you. 

This bank is always willing to co-operate with business men of sound judgment 
and character who have shown a disposition to do the right thing by maintain- 
ing a bank account and meeting their obligations regularly. 

The time saved in keeping track of your affairs by the bank's keeping your books 
and the ability to give the exact change in writing your check more than offsets 
the time lost in going to the bank with your deposits. 

The important transactions of this institution are not only in every particular 
understood and administered by its officers but also by its directors, who meet 
regularly and frequently to confer on its affairs. 

If you have a checking account you need not send money through the mails. You 
can send your check. If the check is lost your money is still safe in the bank. 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 107 

You will find us an able and willing ally in your business affairs. 

This bank derives strength from the strength and confidence of its depositors, 
many of whom have been customers of the institution for years. 

The officers of this bank are always glad to meet customers personally, and any- 
thing we can do to promote our mutual interests will be cheerfully done. Don't 
hesitate to talk things over with us. 

We want to supplement your manufacturing or merchandising machinery, so to 
speak, by our service and facilities. 

You need the convenience of a checking account and also the many other features 
of the service of a good bank, which are available only to its commercial cus- 
tomers. 

Deposit your checks here, no matter upon what bank they are drawn. Deposit 
with us and then pay your own accounts with your own check on this bank. 

By helping the small but sound business in its credit problems, we enable it to 
take advantage of cash discounts, and thus help it to earn additional profits. 

Of course, we are not entirely unselfish in this as we hope to profit by the in- 
creased deposits and other business which come to us from a customer whom we 
have helped on to greater success. 

If you do not care to give your attention to household accounts you can be re- 
lieved of all bother by a checking account with us in your wife's name. The 
checks will record each item of expense, month by month. 

The next time you have occasion to send money out of town come in and let us 
tell you about the bank draft method. 

As a bank depositor you enjoy so many advantages that you really cannot af- 
ford to try to get along without a good financial institution like this back of 
you. 

You get more out of a bank than you put into it. This is true in more ways 
than in the matter of interest on deposits. 

A good banking connection, steadily maintained, will mean prestige, credit, con- 
venience, accommodation, sound advice and the hundred and one facilities of a 
modern banking institution. 

Paying household bills by a check is a safe, convenient, clean and entirely satisfac- 
tory method. 

Any woman who has to look after the many details of housekeeping finds it a 
great convenience to pay her household bills by check. It is economy, too. 

The merchant who pays his bills when due and keeps up his bank balance is sure 
to enjoy good credit. 

At this bank we have made special provisions for the convenience and comfort 
of ladies. Our officers and clerks are glad to give help and advice at any time. 

There is nothing mysterious about a bank account. Some women seem to ba 
afraid that there is. This bank takes special pains to make banking easy and 
convenient for ladies. 



108 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

While various services rendered by this bank are not limited to the exclusive 
benefit of depositors, a checking account here will result in a greater familiarity 
on your part with banking customs and often in the profitable use of some of 
the bank's services which are not available to those who are not depositors. 

Suppose you need to pay a certain sum of money to some one in New York, or 
anywhere. If you have the required amount on deposit here you can send the 
money quickly through this bank. 

In these times, there should be no idle dollars. If you have any that aren't work- 
ing corral them into an interest-bearing CERTIFICATE OF DEPOSIT at this 
bank. Any successful money-maker will tell you that always keeping your 
money busy is the secret of financial success. We will be glad to correspond 
with you or talk with you personally about this safe, convenient and profitable 
investment for your funds. 

You may not realize it, but a good bank is indispensable to you as a business 
man and citizen. 

Many a man has found out that when his business needed extra capital, or he 
wanted to get others in with him on some deal, his success has depended greatly 
on what his banker could say about him. 

With a check book of her own, your wife will find it unnecessary to keep much 
money in the house, and will avoid the trouble of making change. Her account 
is balanced by the bank each month and she can verify her records. 

Not infrequently there are occasions in almost every person's business or private 
affairs when it is necessary or desirable to send money to a distant point quickly. 
This bank is the logical place for you to go to have the matter taken care of 
properly. 

The best way, in fact the only way, to develop a satisfactory standing at the 
bank is to become a regular depositor. 

There are at least six classes of depositors who should be especially interested 
in having a bank account: — All who work for wages or salary; the capitalist, 
the professional man, or the woman who has a separate account; the business 
man who wishes to separate his private income or the surplus profits of his 
business from his general business capital ; the public or private corporation ; the 
executor, administrator, guardian, assignee, receiver or trustee; religious, chari- 
table, fraternal or other organizations. 

With a checking account your payments are systematized; loss of money by 
theft or carelessness is prevented; you always have the right change; each check 
shows date, amount and payee; paid check is the best receipt; bank gratuitously 
assists you to keep your books; merchants prefer that you pay by check; checks 
are clean, convenient and safe; it adds to your business prestige. 

Banks can protect wealth better than individuals can and yet give all the advan- 
tages to the owners that they had before depositing the money with the bank. 

A strong bank must have sufficient resources to meet all demands. Any person 
who deposits here may be certain that we can return his money when needed, 
because we more than comply with the law in the matter of reserves to protect 
deposits. 






ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 109 

There are literally scores of ways in which a good bank can serve the business 
man, the professional person or the householder. To know these services you must 
put yourself in a position to use them. That means, become a regular depositor 
in the bank and get acquainted with its officers. 

Tins bank wants to be of the greatest practical usefulness to the people of this 
community. And to that end we are glad to have suggestions from the man 
outside the wicket. 

The banks collect a large total of deposits in small amounts and protect this 
actual wealth by the strongest physical means at the same time that they safe- 
guard the money when loaned by demanding unqualifiedly good security. 

Tins bank has among its customers a large number of women who thoroughly 
appreciate its efforts to assist them in the proper transaction of their banking 
affairs and no woman need hesitate to avail herself of our facilities at any time. 

While the primary function of a bank is to safeguard the moneys in its care, 
this institution is prepared to do a good deal more than that. It is our desire 
to give our patrons every accommodation and service that can reasonably be 
required, and we consider the giving of dependable advice one of our functions. 

Desiring to give our customers the best possible service, we are continually seek- 
ing to improve our equipment in every desirable way. 

You will never appreciate the convenience of a checking account until you have 
one. As a saver of time, trouble and worry, the check method of handling per- 
sonal or business financial matters is one of the most valuable features of modern 
business. 

The person who pays by check commands more respect than the one who pays 
with currency. A bank account is generally considered evidence of industry, 
integrity and business ability. 

Give the officers of this bank an opportunity to add the weight of their counsel 
to your efforts. It is our business to help the business of our customers. 

The officers of this bank consider that it is one of their functions as bankers 
to give depositors and other customers the full benefit of their knowledge in the 
matter of investments. 

There is not much profit for a bank in an ordinary checking account in which 
the balance fluctuates constantly. But where funds are left on deposit with us 
undisturbed for several months or a year, the opportunity for profitable use 
of the money in legitimate lines is greater and the earning capacity of the money 
for the depositor correspondingly higher. 

Securing funds easily abroad is only one of the ways in which a letter of credit 

I helps the traveler. An introduction is often needed while traveling in foreign 
countries. A letter of credit from a good bank serves this purpose well. 
v 
I 
1 



We welcome small depositors because it is from small accounts that large accounts 
grow. That is why we encourage young business men and preserve toward them 
the attitude that it is not what their deposits are today, but what they will be 
tomorrow, that counts. 

A checking account here will bring you into frequent contact with our officers 



110 MacGREGOR'S book of bank advertising 

and employes. This will result in a greater familiarity on your part with bank- 
ing customs and often in the profitable use of some of the bank's services. 

It is an unwritten law of this bank that all business of whatever form intrusted 
to it shall be a closed book except to those vitally interested. You can depend 
upon this absolutely. 

A certificate of deposit of this institution, representing money left here as 
"time deposit," can in many cases be advantageously used in place of a certified 
check in guaranteeing contracts. The certificate may be up as a guarantee long 
enough to earn interest. 

Care in selecting your bank is just as essential as in anything else involving 
the use of money. If you investigate the clean record and present high standing 
of this bank, you will have no hesitancy about choosing this institution. 

The affairs of this bank are administered by a board of directors which holds 
regular and frequent meetings. This board carefully supervises the loans and 
otherwise directs and controls the policy of the bank. 

Our judgment and experience along business and financial lines are always 
placed at the disposal of our customers who feel the need of wise counsel and 
sound advice. 

Most merchants take an inventory only once a year. This institution, being a 
national bank, takes one five times a year, because as often as that a complete 
statement of condition is required of us by the Comptroller of the Currency at 
Washington, who has oversight of all the national banks. 

The entire equipment of this bank is at the service of every customer. No matter 
how large or varied your banking business, our service will satisfy every phase of 
it; it is also just as well suited for the small depositor, for it is personal, intelli- 
gent, helpful service. 

Our officers are conveniently accessible to the customers of the bank, in order that 
business may be transacted without loss of time through unnecessary delays. 

The relation between a banker and his customer is closer than the ordinary 
relations of business men. Financial responsibility must be supplemented by 
mutual confidence. 

The only right way to conduct your financial affairs is to be perfectly frank with 
your banker and let him know confidentially what you have back of you and what 
you want to do. 

The first-hand knowledge of general business conditions possessed by the officers 
and directors of this bank gives them the greatest possible advantage in directing 
its affairs. 

Efficiency is made up in large part of system, and one of the most important 
features of system is handling financial affairs through a bank account. 

A depositor's chief concern in regard to his bank is as to the ability of the 
institution to repay his deposits when asked to do so. Our conservative manage- 
ment of this bank, together with our capital and surplus, amounting to $ 

and our cash reserve of over — per cent, guarantee our ability to meet the 
demands of our depositors under any circumstances. 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 111 

It is pleasant, as well as convenient, to transact banking business at this bank. 
We take a personal interest in our customers, and, realizing that our success 
is bound up in theirs, we want to help them as much as possible. You're wel- 
come at this institution — a bank with good sound judgment and the most up-to- 
date facilities for handling your banking business. 

Fob time deposits we issue certificates of deposit which are interest-bearing, 
negotiable instruments running for a longer or shorter period as arranged. 

We are particularly anxious to get in touch with young business men for the 
obvious reason that we can be especially helpful to them and their business will 
be increasingly helpful to us. 

No one thing will do so much toward establishing one's credit as a checking 
account at the bank and the paying of all bills by check. Let us talk to you 
on the subject. We will be pleased to explain the many advantages of such an 
account. 

Every man should consider his credit standing in the community whether he is 
asking for credit or not. He owes it to himself to maintain a good credit, 
because some time he may need it. 

In protecting the cash capital and securities of the people, the banks perform 
a service of the greatest benefit to the community. 

If you have never had a checking account, decide now to start one here and 
learn by actual experience the benefits of having an account in a good bank. 

If you are a farmer, a merchant or a manufacturer, there are times when you 
feel the need of outside counsel and assistance. The bank is the logical place 
for you to go under these circumstances, and the better known you are there 
the easier it will be for you to get just the kind of help you want. 

There are two principal functions that banks perform. They act as depositories 
of the available wealth of the community, and they lend this money to those who 
wish to turn it into productive capital. 

Plan to put yourself in a position to be well rated, cultivate the acquaintance 
of your banker and build up a balance in the bank. Then when you need accom- 
modation it is yours for the asking. 

The convenience of a checking account, indispensable to the business man, can 
be enjoyed by all persons who receive and pay out money, as this bank accepts 
deposits in any amount and extends every courtesy to depositors, whether their 
accounts are large or small. 

This bank is wisely conservative, not onlv in the matter of its loans and invest- 
ments, but also as regrards the handling of the individual accounts and the every- 
day transactions of the bank. 

You might as well make up your mind at the beginning of your business career 
that you will tie up closely to some good bank. This bank will welcome you and 
its officers will be glad to get acquainted with you and your business for our 
mutual benefit. 

We desire to impress upon you our entire fitness to handle your banking business 
and at the same time we want you to impress your personality unon us and let 
us get acquainted with you. It will be greatly to the advantage of both of us. 



112 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

If you have any sum of money for which you have no immediate need and which 
you want to deposit in a safe place, a certificate of deposit in this bank is just 
the thing for you. Money deposited here in that way becomes an investment — 
at once safe, available and productive. 

A bank that handles your account correctly is not only a source of satisfaction 
to you, but in many ways an advertisement for your business. 

A checking account provides you with a good system of bookkeeping without the 
actual trouble of keeping books. The bank does that for you. 

Our certificate is in reality a receipt for your deposit and a promise to repay 
it to you at a certain specified time with interest as agreed upon when the deposit 
is made. 

You will find the bank handy in your various transactions and necessities, all 
the way from sending drafts to the matter of arranging so that you can take 
your vacation without carrying with you too large an amount of currency. 

You will find that upon many occasions your banking associations will help 
you through difficult situations which would bother you a great deal more if you 
did not know the bank could help you, and if you were not in a position to go 
to the bank for assistance. 

Entrust your money and your financial affairs to a bank that has been proven 
by every test for years and never found wanting. 

It is all right to be a bank depositor and have your name on a little card at the 
bank, but you ought to go further than that. Make up your mind to use, as 
much as possible, the facilities provided by the bank. 

The bank is willing to help you. That is what it is here for. But you must 
have something back of you — collateral security or at least a reputation for 
ability and dependability, and character is a fundamental requirement of a bor- 
rower, as the late J. Pierpont Morgan said. 

We want to help you succeed in your business because the interests of the bank 
and its customers are mutual, but also because we believe that a bank is a semi- 
public institution and that helpfulness to the business community is its main 
function. 

The banks and the people are interdependent. Without deposits the banks 
would be powerless to help would-be borrowers; without borrowers, they could 
not profitably care for the money deposited with them. 

Nothing is left undone by this bank which will contribute to the security of 
money intrusted to us. 

The officers of this bank are always glad to meet customers personally, and any- 
thing we can do to promote our mutual interests will be cheerfully done. Don't 
hesitate to talk things over with us. 

An advantage the bank depositor enjoys is that he has at his command many of 
the facilities for gaining information that are available to the men in charge of 
the bank. 

It costs nothing to carry a checking account at this bank. We invite you to 
open one. We pay particular attention to household checking accounts and per- 
sonal accounts of women. 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 113 

The convenience of a checking account is only one of very many advantages of 
being a regular bank depositor. Then you are sure that you have at your com- 
mand a great many valuable facilities and accommodations, and you put yourself 
in a position to get the aid of the bank when you need to use borrowed capital. 

It is possible that you have never really learned by experience just how helpful 
a bank can be to you in your business and financial affairs. 

This bank gives a safe, convenient service in handling all transactions involving 
money. Moreover, we can help our customers in many things not involved in the 
actual banking service, but having to do with their business success. 

Sometimes it helps a man more to refuse him a loan than it does to grant it. 
This institution believes in "constructive banking" and aims not only to make 
good loans, but to lend money in such a manner as to help its depositors to the 
best advantage. 

With ample capital, surplus and resources, we are able to give the best of bank- 
ing facilities. Our system and equipment are modern and complete in every 
respect, and we serve our depositors accurately and promptly, treating their 
interests as our own. 

A satisfactory banking connection is valuable to you not merely for the occa- 
sions when you need it for some big thing, but also for every-day requirements 
in connection with business and money matters — the small details of accommo- 
dation that the bank is always in a position to render to its customers. 

We are not distant in our manner or method. We believe that the interests of 
the bank and its customers are mutual and that the best way to promote them 
is for us to get well acquainted with one another. 

Having a checking account in a good bank is nothing short of a necessity for 
anybody who has the handling of even a moderate amount of money. 

The officers and directors of this bank manage it on strictly business principles. 
We let no other considerations influence our judgment or action in the conduct 
of its affairs. 

You are sure of courteous treatment here even if at any time we cannot grant 
some particular request. 

You will find it most satisfactory to put the bulk of your temporarily idle 
surplus into this bank on interest-bearing certificate of deposit. The interest 
your money will earn here is an item quite worth while. 

The officers and directors of this bank realize that it is, in a measure, a public 
institution and that its interests and those of its depositors and the community 
are common. 

Often the scrutiny of a trained observer, like your bank, may be the very thing 
needed to discover some latent weakness or danger in your business. 

We want to co-operate with you because if we can help you to greater success 
in your business enterprises, it will benefit this community and the bank as well 
as yourself. 

Business deals of almost everv nature eventuallv involve a bank transaction, 



114 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

and bank officers and employes realize the obligation resting upon them to keep 
such transactions to themselves, quite as much as the lawyer or doctor does the 
safeguarding of his clients and patients. 

Success in business depends in a large measure on the timely aid and co- 
operation of a strong and conservative bank. 

We invite the closest investigation of our strength and standing and our equip- 
ment to give satisfactory banking service in every respect. 

This bank is conducted just as much in the interests of the depositors as for the 
benefit of the stockholders. 

It is seldom that a bank is not much better able to invest all its money to show 
greater average return than is the small investor. This is partly because it 
has money to lend in bulk, but chiefly because its officers are students of funda- 
mental business conditions. 

This bank enjoys the confidence and handles the business of many leading firms, 
corporations and individuals in the community. 

We issue Travelers' Checks which may be converted into cash anywhere without 
red tape, delay or discount. 

There is no surer way of introducing system, economy and safety into your 
financial affairs than by opening a checking account with a strong reliable bank 
such as this. Greater savings and large profits are inevitable from thus hand- 
ling the details of your business. 

A checking bank account protects your money, promotes good business habits 
and gives you a firmer financial standing and credit. And all the time your 
money is just as much at your service as if it were in your own pocket. 

Let us get better acquainted, to the business advantage of both of us. 

Our bookkeeping department makes a daily report to the officers and directors, 
showing the bank's exact condition as to cash on hand, percentage of re- 
serves, etc. 

The dealings of this bank with its customers are absolutely confidential. Par- 
ticulars regarding accounts on our books are supplied only to our customers in 
person, to their known representatives or when authorized in writing. 

Having these elements of strength — sound management, large resources, sub- 
stantial cash reserve and a flawless record, this bank seeks its share of the bank- 
ing business of this community with the pledge of prompt and efficient service. 

This bank is very careful in the matter of loans. Whenever there is a doubt 
the bank gets the benefit of it. 

There is a large extent of country in this section which can very advantageously 
do its banking business with this stronsr bank through the postoffice. It is 
perfectly safe and not inconvenient at all when you get used to it. 

Good banking is just as strict and conservative as it ever was upon the funda- 
mental principles, but its usefulness has been increased by the "open-door" policy 
which enables anv customer to have the benefit of the knowledge and experience 
of the officers of the institution. 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 115 

The officers of this bank are always at the service of the public in a free, open, 
''maii-to-man" style. 

Personality counts, and to be favorably known at the bank is eminently worth 
while for any man ambitious to succeed in business. 

It means a great deal to you to have a sound bank back of you and to be in a 
position to call it "my bank." 

The prosperity of our locality depends partly upon its natural resources, but 
also quite largely upon its banks, which afford accommodation to merchants, 
farmers and manufacturers as they require assistance in the expansion of their 
business. 

Make the resolution for the New Year that you will cultivate closer relations 
with your bank than you have formerly. 

The importance of a business man's credit cannot be overestimated — nor can 
the part the bank has in building it up. 

The high standard this bank has set for itself in the conduct of its business 
is a protection to its depositors in every emergency and under all circumstances. 

Do you realize how helpful the bank can be to you personally in your financial 
matters? Get into the proper relation with this reliable and efficient institution 
to derive the utmost benefit from its up-to-date banking facilities and the in- 
telligent and prompt service which we are able to give. 

Banking success is largely based on mutual confidence. The banker cannot 
safely deal with a customer in whom he does not have confidence, while customers 
would soon cease to deal with a banker in whose judgment and integrity they 
lacked confidence. 

'The officers of this bank are always pleased to be of service in making our 
facilities equally available to women as to men and they make it a point to 
render business assistance to women whenever possible. 

We have quite a number of household checking accounts on our books and we 
know that our women depositors find such accounts a great convenience, to say 
nothing of the security and prestige which go with a checking account. 

A business connection between you and this bank cannot fail to be of mutual 
advantage and satisfaction. Ask any of our present customers. We will be 
satisfied to let them testify as to the service and stability we offer. 

It is the object of this bank to be as helpful as possible to the community as 
a whole. We are ready at all times to taken an active part in any movement 
that is likely to redound to the benefit of all. 

The bank is one of the most important factors in the business life of the country. 
Do not try to get along without it in your financial affairs. 

This bank is always ready to loan money on proper security and in reasonable 
sums, but, naturally, gives precedence to the application of a regular customer 
of the bank. 

This bank is not too large to give considerate attention to the little things 



.116 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

which mean much to the welfare of the depositor. It is not too large to lend 
the weight of its counsel and support to the depositor whose dealings are small, 
but none the less important to him. 

The spirit of this institution is one of helpfulness. The idea behind the bank is 
embodied in the word service. 

As a lender this bank stands ready to aid anyone who is worthy of it and is 
building up a legitimate business. 

W)e have always made a strong point of courteous, prompt and accurate service 
to our depositors. It is the kind of banking service every business man wants 
and ought to have and we like to give it. 

On account of frequent and thorough examinations, the officers and directors of 
this bank always know just where the institution stands and can conduct its 
affairs accordingly. 

Do you realize that a hundred small accounts make a bank stronger than a 
dozen large ones, even if they aggregate the same total of deposits? 

This bank always bears in mind the fact that a bank prospers as its customers 
prosper. We therefore use every legitimate means to aid our depositors in their 
business problems when they seek our help and put themselves in a position to 
warrant our co-operation. 

Large resources, ample cash reserve, adequate capital, growing surplus, a long 
and honorable record of careful management, insure absolute security for de- 
positors. 

In a general way, every business man understands something about banking. 
But it is the man who knows definitely just what he can expect from his bank 
under any circumstances that will get the most benefit from a banking connection. 

The directors of this bank are large stockholders. It is their business to direct 
the affairs of the bank and to make personal examinations of the business, which 
they do at regular intervals, thereby having an accurate knowledge, at all times, 
of its affairs and safeguarding the interests of every depositor. 

Your possession of a confidence-inspiring character in itself is not enough unless 
you are known at the bank, as you are known when you maintain an account 
there. 

This bank acts as a clearing-house for business information. 

Put your money matters on a business basis by establishing and maintaining 
close relations with a good bank. 

Many small businesses have become strong and prosperous through wise bank- 
ing connections. 

The policy of this bank is to provide a prompt, accurate banking service for all 
and to combine liberal treatment with proper conservatism. 

Many different men in different lines are interested in this institution through 
being depositors here. This is of benefit to us because of the opportunity it 
affords us to obtain specialized advice. It is of benefit to our customers because 
it enables us to be of the greatest practical assistance to them. 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 117 

We are sincerely anxious to be of the utmost assistance to our customers in any 
legitimate and wisely safeguarded undertaking. 

It is an easily authenticated fact that no man has made a big success in modern 
business who did not avail himself in every possible way of the facilities which 
are furnished to him by banks. 

It is one of the wisest steps a young business man can take to make a strong 
banking connection early in his career. 

While this bank is one of the most progressive financial institutions in this 
part of the country, yet it has always been managed in the most conservative 
and prudent manner. Safety is our first consideration and treatment of depos- 
itors is always based on sound banking principles. 

A check book is easier to carry than a wallet or purse filled with currency, 
silver or gold. And it is a much safer method of handling personal finances. 

In most cases it is true that the man who carries a bank account makes more 
money than others in the same occupation who have no banking connection. 

The strength of a bank depends as much upon its management as upon its 
capital, and the details of its management fall largely upon its directors. 

In business circles it has been demonstrated that no management can be so 
wise as to make the building up of a surplus unnecessary. It is always well to 
be prepared for emergencies. 

Your business is solicited with a pledge that it will be handled with accuracy, 
promptness and courtesy. 

This bank has made friends because it has made good in its dealings with the 
public. It has a personality and a certain high standard which appeals to the 
public, as shown by the steady increase in our deposits and business. 

Credit operations largely take the place of money operations and a banker is 
really more of a dealer in credit than in money. You must maintain a bank 
account to get the full benefit of this system of credit. 

When you are asked to go into any investment proposition, consult your banker 
first. His advice may save you money. 

Tin: stockholders of this bank are liable to an amount equal to their stock. 
This is an extra guarantee of protection to our depositors. 

Tx extending credit to responsible borrowers banks fulfill another very important 
function — how important can be easily realized when it is considered what would 
happen if our system of business credit should suddenly go out of existence. It 
is evident that things would then be at a standstill. 

We want our customers to come to us freely whenever they feel that our advice 
will be of value to them, because we believe that there is a very important 
advantage in having sound and frequent financial counsel. 

There is no better way to establish a credit than to have it known that you 
borrow money and pay it back, and there is no better place to make that reputa- 
tion than at the bank. 



118 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

The good keen borrower of money is the man who makes it an object for the 
bank to lend it to him. In other words, if he is a depositor as well as a bor- 
rower he is twice welcome. 

Behind this bank are ample capital and surplus to render it firm in any emer- 
gency. Its service is prompt and sure. It has every department and equipment 
necessary to the transaction of banking along modern lines. 

It often happens that our experience enables us to make suggestions helpful 
to a business man. 

There are quite a number of persons in the community with whom business is 
not a daily habit — women, children and some men. This bank pays attention 
to the requirements of such persons. 

We always give our regular customers the preference in the matter of loans. 

Every business man ought to have a personal bank account, as he will find it an 
advantage to keep a personal deposit separate from that of his firm or business. 

A knowledge of commercial paper and putting this knowledge into practice will 
enable a retailer to meet conditions that would present insurmountable difficulties 
to the average person, unversed in such matters. 

A very influential factor in the upbuilding of this bank has been the considerate 
treatment we have accorded customers, particularly borrowers, in time of special 
need. 

IT would be impossible to make any noteworthy business success nowadays with- 
out the aid and co-operation of a good bank. 

The steady growth of this institution proves that these three factors of sound 
banking are present: Close attention paid by the bank's directors to loans and 
investments, wide experience of its officers and promptness, courtesy and reliability 
in its clerical force. 

What would you do if there were no banks in this community? Do you think 
it would be a very desirable place to do business in under such circumstances? 

The officers and directors of this bank seek strength rather than mere size and 
solidity rather than show. This is a bank for prudent men and women, known 
far and wide as a "Solid Institution." You will find it to your advantage to 
begin your business career with a checking account here. 

The business man regards his bank as a place where his funds will be properly 
cared for and as a medium through which to handle all his transactions without 
the necessity of using cash. He expects his banker to be a competent adviser 
and a practical aid in swinging important deals. 

Our investments are not only safe, but they are such as can be turned into cash 
quickly. This is a vital feature of sound banking. 

Battles of business are won by preparation and co-operation. The former 
includes the building of an acquaintance and a reserve of cash on deposit at your 
bank. The latter means getting the bank's aid in fortifying your enterprise, 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 119 

strengthening its outposts, or in planning and carrying on a vigorous campaign 
tor new business. 

We consider that our depositors are in partnership with us, and we have a real 
desire to help them increase their business, as their prosperity is our prosperity. 

A good banking relationship multiplies your ability and largely increases your 
chance of success, because it puts you in touch with the experience and knowledge 
of others, and gives you the benefit ot the resources and facilities of an institution 
organized and conducted especially for the use of business men. 

This bank has been helping business men in this community for many years, and, 
naturally, has been of most help to those who have given us the greatest oppor- 
tunity to serve them. 

Pbopeb use of banking facilities is one chief aid to scientific management and 
business efficiency. 

The late J. Pierpont Morgan strongly emphasized the importance of character 
as a basis of credit and business confidence. He placed it above everything else, 
and most bankers are like him in that respect. 

The whole business world rests on a foundation of confidence. When confidence 
is gone business is gone. It is through the mutual confidence of the bank and 
its customers that the best interests of the business community are served. 

In looking over your affairs, what place do you find that the bank has had in 
your transactions of the past year? Have you made as much use of the bank 
as you might have done, and do you know as much about its facilities by actual 
personal experience as you should? 

Drafts drawn on any point in the United States or abroad are collected by us 
and placed to the credit of depositors. We likewise perform a similar service 
locally for our correspondent banks and other out-of-town customers. 

There are a great many ways in which this bank can aid you. Perhaps some 
of them are unfamiliar to you. It will be a pleasure to us to explain our service 
in detail if you will give us the opportunity. 

A thorough knowledge of banking rules and practice, such as you will obtain by 
having an account in a good bank and using all the facilities it offers, will be 
of very great assistance to you in your business. 

A large part of this bank's funds are invested at home, so that in depositing 
with us you can justly feel that you are helping this section by letting your 
money be employed in this way. 

The banker's life is spent in studying the reasons for the success and failure of 
those who engage in various lines of commerce and industry. So you are coming 
to the right place and doing the proper thing when you consult your banker. 

The regular patron of a bank assists in furthering the welfare of the community 
at large at the same time that he helps the bank and derives direct benefit him- 
self. 



120 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

A disinterested analysis of your business affairs may be what you need more 
than anything else just now. If you consult your banker and give him your 
complete confidence you can be sure of getting helpful advice and suggestions. 

A bank account, besides affording you great convenience and protection, gives 
an opportunity for a mutual acquaintance and co-operation between you and 
your banker, which is of inestimable value. 

This bank's organization is such that all who bring their business here are 
assured of courteous treatment and appreciative attention, and it is large and 
strong and old enough to give perfect assurance of safety in dealing with it. 

Five statements of this bank's condition are made in the year to the Comptroller 
of the Currency. Two examinations are made yearly by the National Bank 
Examiner, and the liability of its stockholders creates a guarantee equal to the 
par value of the shares held. 

As you plan for a bigger business in the year to come, do not overlook the fact 
that many business men and houses have become strong and prosperous through 
wise banking connections. 

Certificates of Deposit are as good as accepted checks and as good as money 
for any purpose. Their use is coming to be more general. It will be to your 
advantage to find out more about them. We will gladly furnish full information. 

Taking care of money is only one function of the banking business. There are 
many other ways in which a good bank is indispensable in the community, one of 
its most important functions having to do with credit and its uses. 

If you have never learned by actual experience just how helpful a good bank 
can be in your business, let us advise you to do so at once. This bank has helped 
many persons on to greater financial success and stands ready to help you if 
you will give it the opportunity by becoming a depositor here. 



Our specialty is commercial banking, and we are equipped to give the best 
possible service in every branch of it. 

Open a bank account — both a savings and a commercial account, if possible, 
always dealing in a frank and open manner. Your confidence in the bank will 
be rewarded by its confidence in you. 

When a business man wants the use of additional cash he gets the sum he 
desires from the bank by giving it the right to a future payment from him. 
This is what is called bank credit, and it is the basis of a great deal of business. 

The laws governing banking regulate, to a certain extent, what kind of security 
a bank can take. The depositor is at liberty to offer his banker any paper he 
may want discounted, providing it is, in his opinion, first-class security, but 
should remember that the banker is under no obligation to take it or even to 
give his reason for declining to do so. 

The long record of uprightness and square dealing possessed by the men back 
of this institution assures its depositors that its affairs will be honestly looked 
after and that the funds of the bank, the ability and experience of its officers and 
directors will be properly used — in short, that the name of this institution is a 
synonym for all that is clean, reliable and substantial in financial matters. 






ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 121 

In many businesses there comes a time when more money seems necessary. 
Without thorough analysis, the owner sometimes concludes that more capital is 
needed. He takes in a partner with money or issues new stock, when the real 
need is temporary funds. That is where a good bank can help. First, by the 
right kind of advice; and, second, by making the required loan. 

Reserve power is just as important in business as it is in a motor or the human 
body. When you have it you are ready for an emergency — an extra strain. You 
can have business reserve power through your bank. It affords you an oppor- 
tunity to build up a cash surplus, on interest-bearing certificate of deposit, for 
instance. 

If you want to send money to Italy, Greece, Czecho-Slovakia, Poland, Arabia, 
or anywhere else in the world, our Foreign Department can take care of the 
matter for you. The manager of the department will be glad to make arrange- 
ments for foreign remittances or to help you with any other banking business. 

Time has demonstrated the soundness of the policies on which the first Board 
of Directors founded this bank, and which have continued throughout its exist- 
ence. Through the many periods of financial stress, this bank has been amply 
able to care for its customers and to aid in stabilizing the country's credit, 
because its daily affairs have consistently been conducted in a sane, conservative, 
and normal manner. 

Every commercial banking service is obtainable at this institution, and with 
the prompt and dependable handling of every matter entrusted to us goes a cer- 
tain personal and individual interest in the customer and his business. 

We realize fully that our success is dependent upon the success of our depositors, 
and we naturally do everything in our power to help them succeed along legiti- 
mate lines. 

Many women of discernment choose this bank to deposit personal and household 
funds, and use a safe deposit box to safeguard their jewels and other valuables. 
They enjoy the opportunity of meeting their own friends and acquaintances here 
in the home-like atmosphere of our rooms. They appreciate the convenience of 
our location and the attentive character of our service. 

Courtesy at all times is constantly emphasized by those who direct this bank 
and it is a matter of great gratification to us that our employes have so thoroughly 
absorbed his policy. 

We want the accounts of new business enterprises. The man with a small 
business will find that the information, advice, service and co-operation to be 
obtained as a customer here will increase his opportunities for business success. 

Foreign trade of the desirable type 'offers no more risk than home trade. The 
integrity of responsible and capable merchants is the same the world over. 
Customs and trade conditions vary, and overseas requirements differ from our 
own. Sometimes the terms submitted from abroad appear unacceptable, but if 
analyzed by one familiar with foreign trade requirements, apparent objections 
may be explained and business made possible and attractive. 

So far as sound banking practice permits, we endeavor to offer the use of our 
general facilities to the public as well as to our own customers. We are glad 
to have an opportunity to serve as many persons as possible, since this is the 
best way of making our bank favorably known to the people of this vicinity. 



122 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

The "small accounts" we welcome are not those with a perpetually low balance 
in constant danger of overdrafts. But if you can maintain an average daily 
balance of at least $200, we should be glad to handle your account. We have 
noticed that small accounts which are otherwise desirable, have a way of grow- 
ing, to the mutual profit of the bank and the depositor. 

Just as every merchant is eager for as large a volume of trade as his establish- 
ment can properly handle, so we are eager for the banking business of reputable 
merchants, manufacturers and bankers, to the limit of our ability to care for it 
— and we invite it. 

Authorities on personal and household thrift agree that keeping track of ex- 
penditures is one of the most important methods of getting ahead in money 
matters. Most amateur bookkeeping efforts, however, are burdensome and not 
usually kept up. When you have a personal or household checking account at 
this institution and pay all your bills by check, by means of your canceled 
checks and the stub record of your check-book you have a very practical means 
of knowing where your money goes all the time. 

When you become a customer of our Foreign Department you take advantage of 
the best existing world-wide banking facilities because we are co-operating with 
hundreds of great banks in all civilized parts of the world. You can make 
use of our service, for example, for 

—transferring funds by telegraph or cable 

— issuing travelers' credits in dollars and pounds sterling 

— buying and selling foreign monies 

— collecting of foreign coupons 

— securing credit information and reports on trade conditions 

— issuing documentary credits payable in all parts of the world 

— financing imports and exports. 

In earlier days the banking institution held aloof from the daily life of com- 
merce — a place to which the merchant came, hat in hand, and his business was 
accepted or not accepted. Today, every up-to-date, progressive bank realizes 
that its own well-being and growth hinges on the extent of its usefulness to the 
business life of the community. It invites business. 

Under the head of commercial paper is included drafts, checks, bills of exchange 
and promissory notes issued by commercial houses. We deal in these instruments, 
buying, selling, discounting and collecting them. In the past few months we 
have had an increased call for our services in connection with still another form 
of commercial paper— the TRADE ACCEPTANCE. This is a modern and effi- 
cient substitute for the old-fashioned, wasteful and cumbersome open book ac- 
count method. Some of its salient advantages are that it verifies the account, 
makes deferred credit immediately available, lessens overbuying, and makes a 
given amount of capital more effective. 

Strange as it may seem, every once in a while we run across someone who 
has the erroneous idea that our collection service includes efforts to collect slow 
accounts for merchants and others. This bank has nothing to do with such 
collections except that it recommends the use of trade acceptances and other 
methods to prevent bad debts. Our Collection Department gives prompt and 
dependable service in the collection of checks, notes, drafts, etc., not only in this 
city and vicinity, but, through its banking connections, in all parts of the United 
States and throughout the civilized world. Our charges are moderate — in many 
cases collections are made free. 



ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES 123 

Many successful business men and farmers maintain at least two bank accounts 
— one an active checking account and the other a savings or certificate of deposit 
account. Often these accounts are kept in separate institutions. We are asking 
you to consider this bank as a safe and profitable place of deposit for money not 
immediately required. We pay a satisfactory rate of interest on both savings 
accounts and certificates of deposit, giving as security all the assets of this 
stronsr bank. 



CHAPTER IV 
SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 

THE great war and the Liberty Bond and War Savings Stamp 
campaigns caused a remarkable stimulation of thrift in the 
United States. In the period of high wages and extrava- 
gance which has followed the war many have forgotten the lessons of 
thrift so recently learned. To bring these wanderers back into the sav- 
ings fold and to train the new generation in the ways of thrift is the 
mission of the savings advertisement. Even in spite of the high cost of 
living and the high taxes partly responsible for it, people should save. 
It must be admitted that it is increasingly hard for the average person 
to save anything at all even with a greater income than formerly. 
However, this only makes it more incumbent upon the banks to preach 
the gospel of thrift. 

Here is a keynote for savings advertising in these times : A dollar 
saved now will be worth two a few years hence when we are back on 
a normal price level again. At least it is certain that prices will fall 
even if they never again reach the pre-war level, and the purchasing 
power of dollars saved today will be correspondingly greater at that 
future time, to say nothing of the effect of compound interest in adding 
to savings accumulated. 

The subject of thrift is an old one, but it has not been exhausted 
yet. And a new generation is constantly rising up that needs in- 
struction in the straight and narrow path of saving that leads to finan- 
cial independence. 

The first and most important part of a campaign for savings de- 
posits is the newspaper and street car advertising. All other adver- 
tising is, as a rule, subsidiary to this. 

If there are daily newspapers in your community, use the best of 
them at least twice a week. Every day in the week would be better. 
If your appropriation will not permit large space every day, it is better 
to use smaller space continuously than large space infrequently. 

Six smaller ads., one each on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 
Thursday, Friday and Saturday, will bring better aggregate results 
than a single weekly advertisement of a size equal to the total space of 
the six smaller ones. 

124 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 125 

FREQUENT CHANGE OF COPY 

No matter if it does involve considerable work, there should be 
a change of copy once or twice a week. The same style, and if pos- 
sible the same position in the paper should be maintained constantly. 
In this way, by frequent change of copy, but steady use of the same 
place and typographical style, 3 t ou are able to convey the impression of 
continuity and stability and still give a freshness and educational value 
to your advertising that will attract, interest and convince the public, 
your possible depositors. 

Haphazard advertising will not accomplish the best results. Plan 
a campaign as a whole. Then carry it out systematically. 

The conditions vary in different communities and with different 
institutions, but the following outline of a campaign for savings 
deposits successfully carried out in a Western city, ought to be of 
value as an example : 

The daily newspapers formed the backbone of the campaign, of 
course. Four daily newspapers were used three times a week, the 
space being 50 lines, double column. That is, the advertisement oc- 
cupied about three inches and a half in two columns. 

Plain display without cuts was used and there was change of copy 
with each insertion. As a means of "keying" the advertisements and 
to strengthen the copy psychologically by inducing readers to do some- 
thing definite at once, each advertisement contained a request to send 
for a free booklet on savings, and a small home savings bank. 

The arguments used were not directed exclusively to the wage- 
earner or the person of small income, but the appeal was also to 
the man of high-salaried position and to the business man. 

Concrete examples of how real persons were actually saving money 
were given and the reader was urged to go and do likewise. The copy 
was dignified, but personal in style. 

The personal pronoun "you" had a very prominent place, as it 
should have in all advertising. 

FORM LETTERS AND CIRCULARS 

In the street car advertising, cards with striking designs and short, 
snappy copy were run in all the cars of several of the principal lines. 
New cards were put in every month. 

A series of form letters and circulars was also prepared to be mailed 
to special lists, including teachers, clergymen, policemen, firemen, 
members of fraternal organizations, etc. 

Among the talking points- used in the advertisements of this sav- 
ings bank campaign were the following: 



126 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

Small accounts welcome. 

Interest — the rate, frequency of compounding, method of computing, how it 
makes money grow. 

Deposits by mail. 

Safety from fire and thieves. 

Importance of thrift — moral value, becoming independent, preparing for 
old age and the "rainy day," adding to self-respect, the foundation of success, the 
basis of credit, saving for a home, for an education, being ready for opportunities. 

Saving the first $100. 

Withdrawals at any time. 

Savings create capital — a reserve fund. 

Convenient location. 

Conservative management. 

Perfect equipment. 

Teach children to save. 

Age of institution. 

Officers interested in depositors' welfare. 

State regulation and supervision. 

Experienced officers. 

Figures of institution's growth. 

Prompt and courteous service. 

Large capital and surplus. 

Conservative loans — how secured. 

System in saving. 

Examples of actual experience. 

Home safes. 

"Burglar insurance." 

Physical protection — massive vaults, time locks, electric alarm signals, bank 
always lighted. 

Personnel of board of directors or trustees. 

In good times prepare for hard times. 

Certificates of deposit. 

Free booklets, home bank, calendar, etc. 

Putting money to work. 

NOW is the time. 

Quoting prominent men. 

Limit spending, not saving. 

Insuring the future. 

The needs of dependents. 

Open one evening in the week, until 8 o'clock. 

The large amount of new copy required in this campaign neces- 
sitated a constant effort to present old ideas in new form. Prob- 
ably all there is to be said about saving money has been said a great 
many times. The problem of the savings bank advertiser, therefore, 
is to say these things in a new way and to make a personal application 
of the truths to the individual reader, his possible depositor. 

As to the results of this particular campaign, it need only be said 
that the large number of new depositors secured as a result of the 
six months' campaign brought enough business to the bank in the 
course of that year to much more than pay the expense of the adver- 
tising. It should not be overlooked that every depositor secured is 
likely to bring at least one other into the fold. 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 127 

ADVERTISING FOR THE FUTURE 

The benefit of a campaign of advertising extends far beyond the 
period during which the advertisements appear. This is readily seen 
when it is considered that persons who are secured as depositors and 
customers of the bank today through the advertising may continue 
with it, becoming constantly more valuable customers of the institu- 
tion not only because of the increasing size of their own accounts but 
also because of the many new depositors they bring to the bank from 
among their relatives and friends. 

In fact, advertising may be an endless chain and in cumulative 
effect its value may multiply as in an arithmetical progression. 

The details of the advertising campaign must be carefully looked 
after. It is especially important to keep a complete record of all 
facts in connection with the newspaper advertisements. There should 
be a careful checking up of space, position and insertions before paying 
the bills for the advertising. 

LARGE SCALE SAVING 

In connection with the suggestion that savings arguments in adver- 
tising should be adapted not alone to persons of small or moderate 
income, the following extract from an address made by the general 
manager of a large manufacturing company, to the company's travel- 
ing salesmen is interesting: 

Every man connected with our selling force ought to give himself a saving 
quota, just as we give him a selling quota. 

Our business is too hard a business, and requires too much mental and 
physical effort for a man not to save money out of it. 

You ought not to carry those trunks, and that baggage, and ride over the 
country day and night, for a mere living. I can name you a dozen businesses 
where you can make a living much more easily than this. But if you are looking 
for the one chance of your life to accumulate dollars, you have it in this business. 

Save your money — save all you can. Five thousand dollars a year is not 
too much for some of you to save. I know when I had an agency for five years 
there was not a year that I did not save $5,000, and I had only a one-man terri- 
tory to do it in. 

If there is a man selling our goods who cannot save at least $2,000 a year, 
let him look for some other business. This may sound harsh to you, but it is 
right. It depends largely on you wh ether you are going to do this or not. If 
you live up to $5,000 a year you cannot save $2,000. 

How not to advertise a savings bank is best seen by a glance at 
the illustration showing the advertisements of a number of New York 
City savings institutions, taken from a single issue of a New York 
paper several years ago. With few exceptions they are no better 
today. 

The author has in his possession a copy of "The Ulster County 



■ 



128 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 



Irving Savings 
Institution 

115 Chambers St., New Yorltv 



|l to $3.000— entitled therets 
on. Dec. 31, 1807, pa/able on 
and after Jan. IS, 1908. De- 
posits made on or before, Jan. 
10 will draw' tflterest from 
Jan.. 1st. 

W. H. B. TOTTEN, President. 

GEOROE B. DUNNING. Secretory, 



THE MANHATTAN 
SAVINGS INSTITUTION, 

NOS. 644-846 BROADWAY. 
113TH SEMI-ANNUAL DIVIDEND. . 

December 10th. 190T, • 
The Trustees of thle Institution have de- 
clared Interest at the rate of 

FOUR PER CENT. 
per annum on all sums not exceeding $3,000 
remaining on deposit during the three or sis 
months ending on the 31silnst.. payable on 
and after January 20th, 1908. . i 

Deposits made on or before January 10th, 
1908, will draw Interest from January 1st, 
1908. • - 

After January 1st, 1908. open dally from 10 
A, M. to 3 P. M. Saturday from 10 A. M. to 
12 M. . JOSEPH BIRD, president. 

FRANK G. STILES. Secretary. 
CONSTANT M. BIRD, Asst. Secretary.. 



The Metropolitan Savings Bank. 

* ana 3 THIRD AV..(opp. Cooper Institute.) 
CHARTBBED 1852. 

109th DIVIDEND. h 

New Torkt-Doc. 10th, 1907. 
INTEREST .FOR THE HALF YEAR ENDING 
DECEMBER 31ST. 1907, a« the rate of 

FOUR PER CERT. Per Annum 

will be credited to depositors entitled thereto 
under the by-laws of the bank on 'sums from $5 

INTEREST PAYABLE JANUARY 16TH. 1908. 

MONET DEPOSITED on or before January 
10th will draw Interest from January 1st. 

JONATHAN B. CURRBY, President. • 

EDWARD SHERER, Secretary. 



HENRY 8IEQEL FRANK E. VOQElA 

HENRY SIIQIL g CO | 

PHIVATB BARKERS 

MAIN FLOOR 



mm 



«» 



Pes ©edit Interest 

Paid on Deposits from $1 to $3,000 

MONBV DEPOSITED ON OR BEFORE JAN"Y 
20 WILL DRAW INTEREST FROM. JANY I. 
INTEREST READY AND PAYABLE. IF OESIRED, 
PROMPTLY ON THE PIRST BUSINESS DAYS 
OF JANUARY AND JULY. 



jPeponits 



at any time 



WB HAVE NEVER AT ANY TIME REQUIRED 
NOTICE FROM OUR DEPOSITORS FOR THE 
WITHDRAWAL OF DEPOSITS. 

THH .INVESTMENTS AND CONDUCT OF OUR. 
BUSANCSS ARE UNDER THE DIRECT SUPER. 
VISION AND CONTROL OF RESPONSIBLE, WELL. 
KNOWN;'BUSINESS MEN ENGAGED IN LEGIT- 
IMATE MERCANTILE ENTERPRISES. 

WRITE FOR O.ROULAR. 

Hours i 9 A.M. to 5.30 P, M. 
r.«- CHAMPION. W.J. DOHERfV, 

Cashjer Asst. Cashier 



x fhe Bowery Savings Bank, 

128 AND 130 BOWERY. 

NEW YORK. Dec. ~16. 1 001. 
A semi-annual dividend at tbe rate of 
FOlIIi.PEI* CENT. 
per ttimuni has been declared' and will Be, 
credited to depositor* fin all sums. of JO. 00 
and upward And not. , exceeding *3.ooo. 
which shall nave been deposited at least 
three months on the first day of Jsduoit 
next and will be. ~t>as-BbIfe_.on and after 
Monday, January 20tb. 1908. 

Money deposited on, or before January 10 
will draw Interest from January 1, 1908. 
* JOHJTJ. 8INCLAIR. 1st Vlce-Prcs:*. 
HENBY A. SCHBNCK. 2nd Vlcc-Pres.'t. -_. 
WILLIAM "E« Kifox. Secretary. 



THE BANK FOR SAVINGS 

rN THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 

280 Fourth Avenue, Dec. 13th, 1007. 
17TTH SEMI-ANNUAL DIVIDEND. 

The Board of Trustees has declared aji iiner- 
est dividend for the Six Months ending Decem- 
ber 81St, 1907, at the rate of FOUR PER 
CENT, per annum on all sums of $5.00 and up- 
wards entitled thereto, and payablo on and 
after Jan. 20th, 1908. -.- 

.The dividend will be credited to depositors as 
principal, January'' 1st, 1908. 

Deposits made on or. before January 10th will 
draw Interest from January 1st, 1908. 

WALTER TRIMBLE, President. 

CHARLES A. SHERMAN. Secmtsry. 

JAMES KNOWLES. Comptroller 



Union Dime Savings Institution 



Interest Four Per Cent 

Per annum from $5 to ?3,000. Credited Jan- 
uary 1st, payable January 16th,' or any tlms 
later. CHARLES E. SPRAOUE, President. 
.FRANCIS M. LEAKE, Treasurer. 
WILLIAM G. BOSS, Secretary. 



The Brooklyn Savings Bank, 

COB. FIERREFONT & CLINTON STREETS, 

BKOOKLYN, N. Y. , 

December. 14. 1907. 
INTEREST AT THE RATE OP 

FOUR PER CENT. PER AKNUM 

'will be credited to depositors with this bank, 
January 1st next, on all sums entitled thereto, 
(payable on and after January 20th.> 

MONEY DEPOSITED on or before January 
10th will draw Interest from January 1st, 1908. 

BRYAN H. SMITH, President. 

FELIX E. FLANDREAU, Cashier. 

EDWIN p. MAYNARD, Comptroller. 



SEAMEN'S BANK FOR SAVINGS, 

74 and 76 Wall Street. 
• THE TRUSTERS HAVE ORDERED THAT 
INTEREST be paid to depositors entitled there- 
to under the by-laws, and In accordance with 
the Savings Bank laws, tab the six months 
ending Dec. 81st. 1907. 

On accounts not exceedlnt three thousand 
dollars at the rate of FOU& iPER CENT, per 

Payable on and' after Moria^?, Jan. 20th, 1008. 
DANIEL BARNES, President. 
GEORGE M. HALSEY, Cashier. 

New York. Dec. 16th, 1907. 
Deposits made on or Defore Jan. 10th will draw 
Interest from Jan. 1st. 



GREENWICH SAVINGS BANK 

8. E. Cor. ,6th Av. and 16th St. 

INTEREST AT.THE RATE OF FOUR PER | 
CENT. PER ANNUM will be credited de- 
positors for tho."StX MONTHS and THREE.- 
MONTHS ENDING DEC. 31, 1907, on s'l ( 
sums from five dollars to three thou:r?_rid dol- i 
lars, entitled thereto under the by-lairs, pay- 
able Jan. 20. 190S. [ 

r "- ' JAMES QUINLAN. President. { 

CHARLES M. DUTCHER, Trea», • 



.WU1 draw Interest from JAN, L 1808. 



How not to advertise a savings bank 



Gazette," printed in Kingston, N. Y., more than a hundred years 
ago. Some of the advertisements in this interesting old publication 
are exact prototypes of the formal business card announcements used 
by some banks today, ostensibly for the purpose of getting more busi- 
ness. 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 



129 



Cold figures and bald statements, devoid of interest and life, are 
not the best thing in the world with whieh to touch human nature. 

So long- as it is true that the great majority of us act upon feeling 
to a large extent it behooves the advertiser to mix as much human 



INCORPORATED 1861 

The Boston Penny 
Savings Bank 

1375 Washington St., Boston 
Opposite Cathedral 

Resources 

Over Thirteen and One-Half 

Million Dollars 

Money deposited on or before Wed- 
nesday. July 10. 1918. will draw Inter- 
est from that date. 

Deposit. Received from One Dollar to 
One Thousand Dollars 

The last interest dividend was at the 
rate of 4% percent compound interest. 

Checks for dividends mailed to de- 
positors when requested. 

Deposits may be sent by mall. 



Expensive space on the front page of a Boston newspaper was used for this ad. 

interest as possible with his logic in advertising. You make a very 
strong bid for business when you appeal both to the common sense 
and the impulses of your prospective customer. 

In newspaper advertising, the stilted, official card announcements 
of banks are well nigh useless because they are not business getters. 

That style of advertising is cold and austere. Like the massive 
stone walls and iron bars of the bank building itself, it is more repel- 
lent than attractive. Nevertheless, it is probable that some banks will 
be using that style of publicity a hundred years from now, but it 
won 't be the same banks that are doing it today if they once learn the 
better way, for then they will find results so much better that they 
will never revert to that style. 

There is no better illustration of the card announcement style 
in bank advertising than the stereotyped form of newspaper adver- 
tising being done by the New York city savings banks. 

These advertisements are all cut from the same cloth. 

It would seem that if the purpose of this advertising was to get 
more depositors for the banks, the advertisers fell far short of their 
opportunities and wasted good money in expensive newspaper space. 

Of the ten advertisements reproduced, only one — that of a depart- 
ment store private bank — makes a direct personal appeal for deposit- 
ors, although several of the others do so by inference or implication. 

It is not for lack of talking points, either. One of the banks, 
the Bowery Savings Bank, is said to be the largest savings bank 
in the world. One states that it is paying its 177th semi-annual 
interest dividend, another its 109th. All of them are paying four per 



130 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 



cent, interest, which is higher by from % 






to 1 per cent, than is 
allowed by many savings banks throughout the country. 

There is no law that compels the New York savings banks to 
advertise in this perfunctory way. But even if it were compulsory, 



Is Your Money 



making money for you ? The more of it you have 
employed for you, the less you need to work your- 
self. If you keep on saving and putting your sav- 
ings to work, the funded Capital of your earning 
years will gradually take up the burden and you 
will not need to work at all. 

In the meantime you are insured against hard luck or hard times. 
•Have you ever thought about having some tioney 

At Work For You? 

If not, it is time you did if you have any regard for your future 
comfort or for the well being of those dependent upon you. 

Now is the time to begin to save. If you want to start on the 
road to financial independence, or if you have started and would 
like help and encouragement, it will pay you to send for "YOU and 
the Rainy Day," a handsome booklet just issued by The National 
Bank of Commerce in St. Louis. 

It contains 28 pages of practical financial advice, telling how to save and 
make money. It also describes the 3% Certificates of Deposit of this 
$86,000,000.00 hank, which are issued in sums of from $50 up and are nego? 
tiable and renewable annually or semi-annually. 

Send today for your copy of this valuable free book. 

The National Bank of Commerce 

in St Louis 
Broadway and Olive Street 

Putting money to work 

is there anything to prevent their doing some real advertising in 
addition ? 

The advertisement of the Boston Penny Savings Bank shows how 
hard it is for the old line savings banks to get out of the rut. This 
ultra-dignified copy occupied expensive space on the front page of a 
Boston newspaper. Few of the great New England savings banks, 
with their big assets and careful management, which would make the 
strongest kind of appeal to money savers, have taken advantage of the 
great opportunity since the era of high wages to gather in the savings 
of the community. Moreover, the attitude of many of them has 
been one of discouragement rather than encouragement of new ac- 
counts. Meanwhile many smaller and weaker institutions have been 
building up their deposits at a rapid rate. 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 131 

By way of contrast, a real savings advertisement is shown. The 
interesting- thing about it is that it is not the advertisement of a 
savings bank at all, but of one of the greatest of the national banks. 
In common with the advertisement of the department store bank, it 
has a particularly strong feature psychologically — the offer of a free 
booklet and the request that the reader do something definite at once, 
viz., send for the booklet. 

' ' INSPIRATIONAL ' ' COPY 

Too much savings bank advertising consists solely of glittering 
generalities on the subject of thrift. 

Savings maxims are good, but it's a long time since Benjamin 
Franklin got out his "almanacks," and some of "Poor Richard's" 
sayings are rather trite now. 

Most persons realize that it is a good thing to save money and 
that it is foolish to spend it extravagantly. 

The true mission of the savings advertisement, therefore, is to 
induce the reader to act now, to do something definite — to begin at 
once to save systematically and deposit regularly. 

The question naturally arises: What is the best way to do this? 

The answer is INSPIRATIONAL COPY. 

Reading that kind of literature makes men and women resolve 
and do things. 

As the chief object of all advertising is to induce action — to 
get people to do as the advertiser suggests, is it not reasonable to 
'say that advertising copy that is enthusiastic and inspirational is best 
because most likely to bring action in the desired direction ? 

Now, for some concrete illustrations. 

Following are portions of the copy for five advertisements pre- 
pared by the writer for the saving department of a national bank 
in a Middle West city : 

CONCENTRATION AND ENTHUSIASM 

These are two big words — big not only in the number of letters 
they contain but big in the importance of what they stand for. 

These two qualities of mind have been responsible for a tremendous 
total of success in the history of the human race. Very little that is 
great has ever been accomplished without them. 

Concentration provides the guiding rails — the direction; enthusiasm 
is the steam — the motive power. Together they are irresistible. 

This applies to the matter of saving. You need to concentrate your 
efforts to save money. Having an object in view — getting an education, 
establishing a home, providing for old age, will give you enthusiasm. 



AN ANCHOR TO WINDWARD 

Sailors know the wisdom of having an anchor to windward. That 
precaution has prevented many a disaster. 



132 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

To have a money surplus — capital in reserve — is simply throwing an 
anchor to windward. It will prevent your drifting on to the rocks of 
dependence and want. 

The time to build up a reserve, a safeguard for the future, is now 
when you are strong and able to work and sacrifice. You don't know 
about the future, but you do know that now, today, you are able to earn 
and save. Make the most of your present opportunity and prepare your- 
self for greater ones later on. 



LINE OF LEAST RESISTANCE 

It is natural and easy to follow the line of least resistance. But it 
is doing the hard things that develops strength and character. 

It is the easiest thing in the world to spend money foolishly or 
carelessly. It takes strength and determination to resist the temptation 
to do so, but successfully resisting the temptation brings two rewards— a 
stiffening of your mental and moral backbone and an increase in your 
material resources. 

We want to help you all we can in your efforts to get ahead finan- 
cially — to create a tangible proof of your accomplishments in the shape 
of money saved. 

YOU CAN BE RICH 

Poverty and riches are relative terms. That is, some persons can 
be rich with a thousand dollars and some poor with fifty thousand. 

But there is no reason, aside from physical disability, why you 
or any other person in this country cannot acquire at least enough wealth 
to make it possible to spend the declining years of life in comfort and 
without work or anxiety concerning the necessities of life. 

It is merely a matter of so regulating the habits of life that you 
will systematically save a portion of your income and deposit it regularly 
in a safe interest-paying bank like this. 

The truth of this is proved by the experience of thousands of suc- 
cessful men and women. 

WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT? 

You undoubtedly realize the importance of systematic saving. You 
have read and heard a great deal about the folly of extravagance and the 
wisdom of economy. 

You have seen actual instances of the disastrous results of the former 
and the happy consequences of the latter. 

Now, the question is, What are you going to do about it as regards 
your own habits? Will you start today to save a portion of your 
income regularly or will you continue to procrastinate and postpone the 
start until "a more convenient season?" 

Doing something definite will help you. Come into this bank as soon 
as you possibly can and open a savings account even with no more than 
a dollar. 

In these advertisements an attempt has been made to get away 
from the common style of savings advertisement which makes use of 
many platitudes, 

Now, it is not meant to criticise the good old savings ideas, but 
only the use of the same words in the same old way that has been 
used by savings bank advertisers from time immemorial. Nor should 
we forget that there is constantly coming up a new generation to 
which these stock phrases are new. 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 



133 




deriving 
young 



Many very sound and plain statements about success 
haw been made by men who were successful. 
For instance, J as. J. Hill, empire railroad builder, said : 
"li you want to know whether you are destined 
to be a success or not, you can easily find out. 
The test is simple and is infallible. Are you able 
to save money ? If not, drop out. You will lose. 
Yon may think not, but you will lose as sure 
as fate, for the seed of success is not in you." 

With logical saving there should go hand in hand a 

sound judgment as to how you can benefit most as 

a result of your thrift 

We believe that to establish early in your life a 

deposit account with a bank such as ours, and 

through this relationship have it known that your 

account is acceptable, will mean for you a constantly 

increasing asset in your b us iness life. 

We have on our books the deposit accounts of many 

high-class and deserving young men and we are 

always glad to welcome others. 

Why not come tn and let us talk this matter over 

with yon? 

The American Exchange 
National Bank 

128 Broadway New York City 

Total Besonrces over $150,000,000 



Success through saving 

Rugged truths expressed iu a jerky, disconnected way may be 
enough to remind the reader that he ought to save money. They may 
make him say to himself: "I ought to do that." Whereas, a stronger, 
more logical and more action-compelling appeal is likely to lead him 
to say: "I will do that." 

It is the human will that the advertiser has to deal with, and 
in writing an advertisement it is well to consider the various factors 
that tend to influence the will. 

Turn the searchlight inwards. What is it that proves your 
will? You do not need to be a profound student of psychology to be 
able to trace cause and effect in your own case. 

You will be surprised, perhaps, if the result of this self examina- 
tion proves to you that oftentimes you do not act as the result of cold 
logic or reason, that perhaps in the majority of cases calling for a 
decision you decide in a certain way because you have been moved in 
that direction by your feelings, your emotions. Possibly you have 



134 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

first been convinced logically that the thing is right, that the course 
is the proper one, but your action has been impelled by some enthusi- 
asm or inspiration that has been communicated to you by an extrane- 
ous source. 

In short, the gist of the whole matter as it relates to savings bank 
advertising is this : 

Use a strong, unusual heading and good typography, or illustration, 
to get the reader's attention. 

Then hold him with all the personality, enthusiasm, human inter- 
est and literary charm you can command. Give enough facts to 
satisfy the mind, and, finally, give expression to optimistic, inspiring 
ideas, thoughts that will make the reader do as you want him to do. 

Jonathan Edwards and the preachers of his day in Colonial New 
England were in the habit of dividing their sermons into three parts : 
1, The Introduction ; 2, The Argument ; 3, The Application. 

It was in the latter part that Edwards was accustomed to make his 
wonderfully successful appeals. He preached a sermon entitled 
1 ' Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, ' ' in which he made sinners 
feel that they were hanging by a single hair over the yawning mouth 
of hell. 

A contemporary writer relates how persons with guilty consciences 
hearing this would frantically grasp the benches and pillars as if to 
keep from sliding into the awful abyss. 

It is not the writer's wish to convey the idea that people can be 
or should be so scared into saving money, but this illustration is used 
to emphasize the fact that it is possible to move the human will by 
the use of words, and it is the author's belief that a study of this 
subject cannot help proving advantageous to the writer of advertising 
whose success is measured by the results obtained from the advertis- 
ing matter which he prepares. 

It is a noteworthy fact that this element of enthusiasm, or in- 
spiration enters into the work of practically every person who has 
been unusually successful as a writer of advertisements. 

INTERESTING THE CHILDREN 

A man whose habits are all formed and who has felt the burden 
and responsibility of a family for a number of years, often finds it 
difficult to change his plan of living, even though he realizes his errors. 
It is entirety different with a child, for he is susceptible to any 
influence that is brought to bear upon him, and when shown the sins 
of extravagance and made to realize the pain and deprivations which 
are attendant upon wanton waste, he readily concurs in all endeavors 
to better his condition, and as a result acquires the habit of thrift. 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 135 

Thus we -see the salvation of the bank and all commercial enterprises 
to a great extent lies in the education of the child, and that by his 
instruction along proper lines very desirable results will be obtained. 

CLOSE CONTACT NECESSARY 

The great problem of savings banks is how to reach and come into 
close contact with the people. Many schemes have been evolved ; many 
plans tried and many theories advanced for the accomplishment of 
these results, yet the question still troubles the minds of many. We 
have heard stories of successful insurance agents and their ability to 
get hold of the very heart strings of a man by merely mentioning the 
name of his child, and thus write a large policy, but few of us have 
thought out the reason for this. It is simply the appealing to a man 
through that which is nearest and dearest to him — his child. Nature 
has given to every parent a love peculiar to itself ; the love that sacri- 
fices all for the object of its affection. And we see there really is a 
wonderful and eternal force which the insurance agent, like many 
others, had blundered upon and which, it is true, is often abused. 
However, a proper use of this element can be made to be very beneficial 
to a savings bank. 

School savings banks are all based upon the same fundamental 
principle and differ only in operation. The Thiry System, which is 
in most common use, was deduced from the most successful European 
plans. It is simply the depositing of the savings of pupils with their 
teacher on a specified day each week. The teacher gives them credit on 
a blank provided for that purpose and directly or indirectly turns the 
money over to a local bank, which pays for the necessary stationery, 
etc. The deposit slips are filled out by each individual pupil and the 
whole procedure requires about ten minutes or less per week. As it is 
a regular part of the school routine, no extra work is forced upon the 
teacher. * 

Another plan is the stamp system, which differs from the' one just 
referred to, only in that the teacher when receiving the deposits of 
pupils gives them stamps, which they stick on folders provided for 
the purpose, instead of a receipt or crediting the amount in books. 
This method has been adopted in the schools of Grand Rapids and 
other cities of Michigan and elsewhere. It is very successful, and 
especially attractive to the young depositors on account of the colored 
stamps, which seem to fascinate them. 

By taking care of the children's pennies, the Commercial Savings 
Bank & Trust Co. of Toledo, Ohio, brought to its vaults over $80,000 
in a few years, and added some 4400 new accounts. 



136 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

The stamp plan was used to cultivate the habit of thrift and 
regular saving: among the school children. The bank distributes its 
stamps to the teachers, who sell them to the children. The stamp 
book contains spaces for 50 1-cent stamps. When the book is filled it 
is sent to the bank, and an entry made in the child 's pass book. 

"The greatest value of this savings plan," says an officer of the 
bank, "rests in the fact that we gain the attention of the future de- 
positor when he first begins to think about banking and thus develop 
a connection that will be profitable in the years to come. And in a 



This is just to call 
attention to the faot that if 



Sj deposits $1 per •week." in "the Naug a tuck '! 

■ ' Savings Bank, in. one year (with 4>i in- 1 

terest) it will amount to $83; in five \ 
': years to almost ,$300. 

-^ Open every Wednesday evening {oncept legal nolld»ys) 

A pay envelope to stimulate savings 

large number of cases, the children have been the direct means of 
having their parents open a regular savings account or becoming a 
customer in some other department. This children's plan, along with 
our Christmas club plan, has been a tremendous good-will builder 
and should fit into the plans of many banks. ' ' 

HOME BANKS AS ADVERTISEMENTS 

Probably more than half of the banks in the United States that 
have savings departments are using some kind of a small home bank. 
While the kind of a bank used and method of handling has much to 
do with its effectiveness, it has been fully demonstrated that the use of 
even the' cheapest and most unattractive and inconvenient variety is 
very helpful in encouraging savings and increasing deposits. It is no 
unusual thing to find savings banks, trust companies and national 
banks with savings departments having from 15,000 to 25,000 in use. 
A trust company in Chicago has over 30,000 small banks in use, and a 
large trust company in another large city is said to have recently con- 
tracted for 100,000 home banks or safes. 

For quickly and effectively advertising a new bank the small safe 
cannot be excelled. It puts the bank in direct touch with the people, 
and gives the bank an opportunity to reach and talk with the de- 
positor and explain the advantages it can offer, either through can- 
vassers or by letter calling attention to the fact that a home safe will 
be loaned the depositor if he or she will indicate a desire for one, 
either by calling at the bank or asking to have it sent. 






SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 137 

BANKING BY MAIL 

As banking-by-mail accounts are largely savings accounts a con- 
sideration of the advertising of that branch of banking logically comes 
in this chapter. 

Just as the growth of the "mail order" idea has broadened mar- 
kets in the general business field, the establishment and growth of the 
" banking-by-mair ' plan has widened the circle of many a bank's 
usefulness and greatly increased its deposits. 

There are several classes to which banking-by-mail can be made to 
appeal with special force : 

To those who live where there are no banking facilities at all. 

To those who live in places where banks either pay no interest 
at all on deposits or allow less interest than the banking-by-mail 
institution offers. 

To those who for any reason are dissatisfied with banking con- 
nections already established. 

"While it is true that banking-by-mail has reached its highest 
development in cities where the banks are able to pay as high as 
four per cent, interest on savings accounts, there is no reason why 
banks that pay less than that can not successfully develop a busi- 
ness with out-of-town depositors who want to deal with a strong 
and safe institution even if it offers no higher rate of interest than 
the smaller institutions at home. 

The fact of particular interest about banking by mail, looked at 
from an advertising standpoint, is that the business is absolutely 
dependent upon advertising for its very existence. 

People must know about the bank before they will trust it and 
send their money to it. 

They must be told about it convincingly or they will not respond. 

So here is a department of banking created and maintained by 
advertising, and the extent of its development is in direct ratio to 
the quantity and quality of its advertising. 

Newspaper and magazine space costs so much that the typical 
banking-by-mail institution does not expect to get more than a com- 
paratively small part of its business direct from the original adver- 
tisements. 

It is a "send for booklet" proposition pure and simple. 

The advertisement must be attractive enough and strong enough 
to get the inquiry ; the ' ' follow up ' ' must do the rest. 

TELLING THE WHOLE STORY 

Space is needed to tell the full story of banking by mail — more 
space than it would pay to take in expensive mediums such as that 



J.38 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

in the magazines and "mail order" papers of large circulation. The 
booklet, circulars and form letters must be depended upon to give 
the subject the complete exposition it needs. 

The prime necessity naturally is to give inquirers ample ground 
for putting implicit confidence in the institution's strength and the 
honorable intentions of the men back of it. 

As a rule, persons who send deposits by mail to a bank in a distant 
city are not thoroughly familiar with business methods and are often 
ignorant of banking practice. One of the greatest requirements in a 
good banking-by-mail booklet, therefore, is a very definite and com- 
plete statement of just what one has to do to open an account. 

The following excerpt from a particularly good booklet of this 
class will illustrate the right way to do this : 

1. Detach the slip attached to the back cover of this pamphlet — date and 
sign it, and mail it to us. This will give us a record of your authorized sig- 
nature. 

2. Enclose with it your remittance — whatever amount you wish to deposit 
as a starter ($1.00 will do — no amounts received less than $1.00 and no interest 
computed on fractions of a dollar) and we will promptly open an account with 
you, credit the amount received on our books and in the Depositor's Pass Book 
which we return to you. 

3. The Pass Book serves as your receipt for amounts deposited — and is also 
a complete duplicate of your account with us — showing at any time just how you 
stand. 

4. Send us the Pass Book with the remittance, whenever you deposit. We 
return it to you. 

5. If you desire to draw out money — all you need do is to send us the Pass 
Book and say how much you want, on a conveniently printed form which we 
furnish for that purpose. If a portion of your account, we return the Pass 
Book with the withdrawal duly entered, showing how much you have left in 
the bank. If the whole amount on deposit is withdrawn we retain the Pass 
Book, as the account is closed. 

6. If the Pass Book is at any time lost, stolen or destroyed — notify us at 
once. 

HOW TO SEND MONEY BY MAIL 

Send it in any shape most convenient to you — just as you would naturally 
remit to an out-of-town business house in making a purchase or paying an 
obligation. 

By currency. 

By currency in registered letter is more advisable, especially in amounts 
larger than $1.00 or $2.00. 

By P. O. Money Order. 

By Express Money Order. 

By your personal check. 

By check payable to yourself, received from a hay or grain buyer or other 
party. Endorse the check by simply writing your name across the back — which 
makes it negotiable. 

By draft, drawn by you in our favor — or 

By draft received by you in payment of an obligation from another party, 
and made payable to us by your endorsement. 






SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 139 

By postage (two-cent stamps, in sheets) for small amounts, when no other 
form of remittance is available or convenient. 

You can also send by express a large sum, received by you after banking 
hours, and which you do not wish to carry around with you. 

Or even by telegraph, in case you desire to deposit a sum in time to draw 
interest for the current month. 

We have a special arrangement by which we are able to receive and cash 
checks on local banks in any section — at face value — making no deduction for 
exchange fees. 

The slip referred to is arranged thus : 

19 

People's Savings Bank & Trust Co. 
Savings Department. 

Below is my authorized signature, in which name I desire to open an 
account with you, in accordance with your rules and By-Laws. - 

( Signature ) 

Depositor 
( Address ) 



As far as the main part of the copy for a banking-by-mail prop- 
osition is concerned, it is largely the same as should be used in the 
advertising of any savings bank, as outlined elsewhere in this book. 

Following is the text-matter of banking-by-mail booklet prepared 
by the author for a New York State institution : 

If you open an account with the Syracuse Trust Company, of Syracuse, N. Y., 
and make deposits and withdrawals by mail, you will be doing a perfectly 
reasonable and satisfactory thing, because a thorough trial of this plan has 
proved beyond a doubt that 

It is safe 

It is convenient and 

It is profitable. 

Depositing by mail with this Company is safe because of the financial, 
physical, mental and moral strength of the institution and the men back of it. 

A very important feature of the protection afforded by any financial institu- 
tion to its depositors is the ability and trustworthiness of the men who conduct 
and supervise it and invest its funds. 

OUR DIRECTORS WHO THEY ARE 

A reading of the names and business connections of the directors of this 
Company, printed herewith, must convince you that they are worthy of your 
entire confidence. 

They are men of ripe experience, sound judgment and undoubted integrity, 
representing some of the leading business interests of the City of Syracuse. 
Many are also of great wealth. They are directors who really direct the 
Executive Committee meeting regularly and frequently to discuss the affairs of 
the Company and the interests of its customers. 



140 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 



A Savings Account 
to the Rescue 

THERE is a certain Macon woman who has had 
an account in our Savings Department for several 
years. She built it up from her household allowance 
without her husband's knowledge. 

But he found out about it when he had an accident and 
was laid up for three months. It came in handy then, 
not only tor living expenses but to meet the husband's 
life insurance premium which fell due while he was still 
unable to work and earn. 

Now he is "back on the job" again 
and so is the savings account. 

Fourth National Bank 

Cherry and Third Streets 
MACON, GA. 



A sound argument for savings 

They all have made legitimate success of their own business affairs, and 
like the Company itself, they have records above reproach in every particular. 

There is such a thing as "collective" honesty, ability and experience, and 
we have it in the combined integrity and knowledge of the group of men making 
up our Board of Directors. 

PHYSICAL PROTECTION OF THE SYRACUSE TRUST COMPANY 

As far as physical protection is concerned, in our offices at 330 South Warren 
Street, Syracuse, we have the most approved mechanical safety appliances, in- 
cluding burglar and fireproof vaults, and in the work of our various depart- 
ments we exercise safeguards extraordinarily strict. 

Then as to the 

ALL IMPORTANT PROTECTION 

The Syracuse Trust Company has capital, surplus and undivided profits of 
well over two and a third million dollars for the protection of its depositors and 
the estates it handles. 

This Company is constantly under- the Supervision of the State Banking 
Department to which it must make reports several times a year and by which 
it is thoroughly examined periodically without notice. It is also a member of 
the Federal Reserve System, the largest bank in the world. 

Official bank examiners have access to the vaults, books, securities and papers 
of this Company at all times. This is done so that it may be known for a cer- 
tainty what our condition is, that we are complying with the provisions of the 
law and are entirely able to fulfill our obligations. 

The Executive Committee is constantly in touch with all affairs of this 
Company. All loans made must be passed upon by this committee of the directors. 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 141 

THE UNITED STATES MAIL IS SAFE 

Depositing by mail is safe because the United States mails are safe. 

Every day the banks of the country send millions of dollars to each other 
through the mails and not a cent goes astray. 

Every day millions of dollars pass through the mails safely between va- 
rious business houses and from customers to firms in distant cities. 

The Government has provided two absolutely safe ways to send money 
through the mails — by Post Office money order and by registered letter. 

Registered letters are transmitted under separate envelopes and tags which 
must be indorsed by postal employes handling them in transit. A system of 
receipts is provided to enable the Department to trace registered matter. It is 
dispatched in pouches secured by locks of a special pattern. 

Post Office money orders are absolutely safe because in case of payment to 
the wrong person the Department will see that the amount is made good to the 
owner. 

Other safe ways to send money by mail are : 
By express money order, 
By bank draft, 
By your own personal check. 
By certificate of deposit. 

In all our experience, not a dollar that has been sent to us through mails, 
or that we have sent ourselves in that way, has ever been lost and we have never 
heard of any bank or individual losing money in the mails, when use was made 
of the safeguards provided. 

WHY IT IS CONVENIENT TO DEPOSIT BY MAIL WITH THE SYRACUSE TRUST COMPANY 

Depositing by mail with this Trust Company is convenient because — ■ 

With the aid of the Post Office, and especially the Rural Free Delivery sys- 
tem, the advantages and facilities of this strong and helpful institution are 
brought right to your door. 

This means a saving of time and work. Whenever you have received a cash 
payment or have saved some money and want to deposit it at once rather than 
leave it at home where it may not be safe, you do not have to wait until the next 
time you come to town, or hitch up your wagon or take out your car on purpose 
to go to the bank. Just put the money into an envelope addressed to this Com- 
pany and have the letter carrier register it for you. If it is a check or money 
order, you do not need to register the letter. 

It is just as easy to make withdrawals. 

If you have a 4 per cent, interest account with us and wish to draw out 
money, you just mail your book and state the amount you desire. 

The signature of your letter will be compared with the one on file in our 
office, and if it corresponds, the amount you ask for will be sent to you by return 
mail with your passbook. 

And here is another point — your transactions with us will be strictly con- 
fidential. You will enjoy a privacy impossible when you keep an account in your 
local bank, if there is one in your vicinity. Nobody — neither relative, friend 
nor neighbor — has any chance to learn how much money you have on deposit 
with us or even that you have an account at all. 

You avoid the possibility of anything like that when you do business with 
this big institution. You enjoy absolutely confidential relations. Our business 
is so large and our employes so well trained that you can be sure of this, just 
as you can be sure of the courteous and prompt handling of your business with 
us. 

INTEREST ACCOUNTS 

You can deposit with us money you have saved in small sums, say $1.00 at 
a time. Each time you deposit, the sum is put down by us in a little book 



142 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

which you keep and which will show you at any time the exact amount you have 
with us. On all moneys you deposit in this way we pay 4 per cent, interest 
and compound it twice a year. That is, we figure the interest due you every 
January and July and add it to the principal, so that the interest draws inter- 
est from that time. This money may be withdrawn in whole or part when 
needed, subject to the usual rules. 

Four per cent, is a profitable return on idle money. It increases your prin- 
cipal in a really surprising way. It would double your money in a compara- 
tively few years. 

Consider this matter carefully and you must come to the conclusion that 
it is much better to let your surplus money work for you, earning 4 per cent, 
compound interest in a strong, reliable institution like this, than either to leave 
it unprotected at home or put it into a small bank. 

Is this not reasonable? 

HOW TO OPEN AN ACCOUNT BY MALL WITH THE SYRACUSE TRUST COMPANY 

An interest account may be started with a deposit of one dollar or as much 
more as you wish. 

To open an interest account by mail f 11 out the blank printed on page 9, de- 
tach it from the booklet and mail it to The Syracuse Trust Company, Syracuse, 
N. Y., with your first deposit. 

As soon as we receive your letter and remittance your name will be entered 
upon the ledgers of the Company and a book with the amount of your first de- 
posit properly credited therein, will be sent you promptly. 

Additional deposits may be sent at any time in the same manner. 

Now, if the reading of this booklet has not satisfied you of the reasonable- 
ness of depositing by mail with this strong, conservative institution — or if any 
point is not clear in your mind, do not hesitate to write us for further informa- 
tion. We will be pleased to answer fully and candidly any question that may 
arise in your mind. 

You will be making no mistake, but taking a very wise step in filling out 
the blank herewith now and sending it to us today with the amount of your first 
deposit. 

Send money by check or certificate on your local bank, or by bank draft, 
Post Office or express money order, made payable directly to this Company on 
the face, or by endorsement on the back as follows : 
Pay Syracuse Trust Company or order. 

( Sign your name ) 

Address 



CHRISTMAS, VACATION AND OTHER SAVINGS CLUBS 

It was estimated that in December, 1919, some 3,000,000 persons 
throughout the United States received approximately $100,000,000 in 
the distribution of Christmas Club funds. More than 3,000 banks 
conducted the Christmas Clubs during that year, and after fifty 
weeks of steady payment the members received what they had paid 
in, plus the interest which the banks gave them for the use of the 
money. 

In New York State the amount paid back was in the neighborhood 
of $12,000,000. In New Jersey about $7,000,000 was disbursed. Pay- 
ments in New York city aggregated about $600,000, and Long Island 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 



143 






| EVERY HONTH \^% 




3UN.I MON. TUES.lWEO.lTHuRi FRI. I SAT . 



HABIT m 



maw 

Mil ST* 



1)<L)) 9({i) 2 n *>° 



£ 



5rf £=> 
ove 



Save 



Join Our 
Christmas 
Thrift Club 



If you bought Liberty Bonds on the installment plan you know how easy 
it is to save money by paying a dollar or two each week. 

Our Thrift Ctab offers you this easiest way of saving money. A certain 
amount is due each week (see table below). The small amount is '"not missed" 
each week and in a short time you have quite a sum saved. 

You can start your payments at any time. The Club term runs fifty 
weeks and you can then take a new membership and report as long as you 
want to. 

You are invited to use this plan to save money for any special purpose, to 
educate a child, buy a home or for any other principal. 

It is our purpose to help people save money and this we believe is by far 
the easiest way to save. 

The classes are: — 

Deposit $ .25 weekly, in 50 weeks you get $ 12.50 
Deposit $ .50 weekly, in 50 weeks you get $ 25.00 
Deposit $1.00 weekly, in 50 weeks you get $ 50.00 
Deposit $2.00 weekly, in 50 weeks you get $100.00 
Deposit $5.00 weekly, in 50 weeks you get $250.00 
Start Today By Making Your First Deposit. 

The Union Trust Company 

Washington, Pa. 



North Main Street 



The Christmas thrift club 



subscribers received $250,000. Westchester County received about 
$100,000 more than New York City. Payments in the New Jersey 
counties of Union, Hudson, Essex, and Bergen totaled something like 
$2,500,000. About $3,000,000 was paid out to Christmas Club mem- 
bers in Chicago at that time. 

Christmas Clubs have been in existence for more than a decade. 
At first they were few in number, but the idea caught on and spread 
rapidly. In 1916, before our entrance into the war, there were ap- 
proximately 3,500 banks handling Christmas Clubs, They disbursed 
an amount slightly exceeding the sum which was distributed in 1919. 

In 1917 and 1918 a good part of the Christmas Club machinery 
was turned over to the Government, to assist in the floating of Liberty 
Bonds. Something more than $700,000,000 of Liberty Bonds were 
sold on the Christmas Club installment plan. In New York City 
alone, a sj^ndicate of banks underwrote $100,000,000 of a single issue 
of Liberties, which were disposed of in this way. 

Man is a gregarious animal. The average person will go into any- 



144 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 




THE THRIFT CLUB 

Opens on Wednesday, 
December 10th. 



HE purpose of the Dauphin Deposit Thrift Club 
which opens at 9 o'clock next Wednesday morn- 
ing, is to help you save money regularly; to help 
355555P w y ""*'\ you cultivate the habit of thrift by putting aside a small 
amount each week. 



IF YOU have never been able to save any money, 
why not begin now? You can have a membership 
by depositing as little as fifty cents a week, a sum 
which you will never miss and at the end of fifty weeks 
you will have $25 with which to start an interest- 
earning account. 



IF YOU start saving money and keep it up, you will acquire capital to use for 
investment, for a special purpose, or for a sudden emergency. You will seldom 
be without money to meet those unexpected expenses which always seem so 
hard to meet. 



Bring your first deposit to the bank now. You can 
deposit in any or all of the following classes: 

$ .50 a week for 50 weeks, . . . ' . . . you get $ 25.00 
1.00 a week for 50 weeks, .... you get 50.00 
2.00 a week for 50 weeks you get 100.00 

Don't forget the time — p A. M. Wednesday Morning of this week— 
and the place — the 



MEMBER FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM 



Seal your gifts with American Red Cross Christmas Seals, which 
are being, sold here by the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention 
of Tuberculosis. Customers of the Dauphin Deposit Trust Company 
may buy them from us. 






Good thrift club copy- 
thing that ' ' everybody else ' ' is doing more readily than he will under- 
take something alone. He finds inspiration in numbers and in the 
knowledge that many of his neighbors and friends, persons in like 
circumstances with himself, are also striving toward the same goal. 
Then most persons are rather unsystematic in their money matters 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 145 

and therefore the average individual finds it beneficial to put upon 
himself the gentle compulsion which is the result of membership in a 
club like this. Making a more or less formal and binding pledge to 
save a stated sum regularly, he will find that he can and will save in 
accordance with the plan. 

To illustrate how the idea is advertised several savings club adver- 
tisements are reproduced, and following is the reading matter of two 
typical circulars : 

JOIN OUR 1920 THRIFT CLUB 
Open for Membership December 22nd 

Deposits of $ .25 weekly. Members receive at the end of 50 weeks $12.50 and 

Interest. 
Deposits of $ .50 weekly. Members receive at the end of 50 weeks $25.00 and 

Interest. 
Deposits of $1.00 weekly. Members receive at the end of 50 weeks $50.00 and 

Interest. 
Deposits of $2.00 weekly. Members receive at the end of 50 weeks $100.00 and 

Interest. 
Deposits of $5.00 weekly. Members receive at the end of 50 weeks $250.00 and 

Interest. 
Deposits of $10.00 weekly. Members receive at the end of 50 weeks $500.00 and 

Interest. 

Everybody needs money. Many people have trouble in providing a sufficient 
amount to buy all the presents needed when the time comes. We offer an easy 
plan to meet such a contingency. On December 22nd we start a Thrift Club. 
Members will pay a small amount each week for fifty weeks and at the end of 
that time will receive checks for the total amount they have paid in, plus in- 
terest. The plan is simple and systematic. 

Did You Have Enough Money for Christmas? 

Were you able to do all the little things you would like to have done? 
Were all your family, friends and associates remembered at the Holiday Season 
just as you would have wished? Wouldn't a little extra money have come in 
mighty handy? If so, then start now for next Christmas by joining our 

THRIFT CLUB 

Make a small deposit every week and when the Club matures next December 
you will be surprised at the snug little sum you will have accumulated, made 
larger by interest. Plans to suit every size purse are offered. Join and get 
your friends to join. 

UTICA TRUST & DEPOSIT COMPANY 

CHRISTMAS SAVINGS CLUB 

ANSWERS TO Questions We Have Been Asked About It 
What is the purpose of the' Christmas Savings Club? 

The purpose is to help you and others accumulate a fund for Christmas. 
Tn what manner does the Christmas Savings Club accomplish this purpose? 

By each member paying in a small sum each week for 33 weeks. Two weeks 

before Christmas each member will receive the total amount paid in with 

3 per cent, interest. 



146 MacGREGOB'S BOOK OP BANK ADVERTISING 




Are You One of the "Lucky" Ones 
Who Received a Check Today? 



T 



' I '/^\r\ A "V^ our customers are receiving checks, 
A yJU£\ 1 from our Thrift Club. The checks 
vary in size from $12.50 to $500. 



HESE people are "lucky" because they have stuck to their determination 
to put by a little each week, when it would not be missed. 



NOW they have a nice sum of money for Christmas gifts to gladden the 
hearts of those they love. Many are spending only part of this money 
and putting the rest into an interest account. 

TOT") A Y you can join our 1920 Thrift Club 
A V-/A-//A. A an d g €t j n |i ne to receive a check a 
year from today. Ask someone who joined last year, 
whether it is worth while! 



WEEKLY PAYMENT 

$ .25 . 
.50 . 

1.00 ., 



The classes are as follows: 

AMOUNT OF CHECK YOU WILL RECEIVE 

. . . .- . . . $ 12.50 

25.00 

50.00 

2.00 ........ 100.00 

5.00 . . 250.00 

10.00 500.00 



Make Your First Payment Today 

Utica Trust & 
Deposit Company 

GENESEE, LAFAYETTE AND SENECA STREETS 

Making thrift attractive 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 147 

Does everybody pay in the same amount 

No. There are two classes, numbered respectively 2 and 5. The payments 

are different in each class. 
What are the payments in Class 2? 

The payments are 2 cents the first week, 4 cents the second week, 6 cents the 

third week, and so on for 33 weeks, make the payment for the last week 6G 

cents. 
Do the payments in the other class progress the same way? 

They do. The only difference is that in Class 5 the first payment is 5 cents 

the first week, 10 cents the second week. 15 cents the third week, and so on 

for 33 weeks. 
Is there a membership fee or is there any cost to join? 

No. 
Wlhat do I do to become a member? 

All that is necessary is to go to Dover Trust Company, ask to be enrolled as 

a member and make the first week's payment, or more. 
What will the first payment be ? 

It will be 2 cents or 5 cents, according to the class you join. 
How are the payments to be made? 

Weekly, or in advance for as many weeks as you desire. 
What will happen if I cannot keep up my payments or discontinue? 

You may discontinue for any reason at any time, and at the period when 

the Club closes you will get a check for all you have paid in, but in such 

a case no interest will be allowed. 
When and how can I withdraw? 

Under no circumstances will any withdrawals, either in whole or in part. 

be allowed. What you deposit will be held for you until two weeks before 

Christmas. 
What form of receipt do I get when I make payments ? 

For every week paid you will receive a small receipt in coupon form which 

you will keep in the envelope we give you when the account is opened. 
What would happen if my coupon receipts were lost, stolen or destroyed? 

As we have a complete record of the payments of every member, we will 

pay your share to you whether you have the receipts or not. The receipts 

are of value to you only for the purpose of verifying our records. 
Can I reverse the payments? I 

You can, and by doing so you will have your payment grow less every week 

and your money will earn twice as much interest. 
Can I become a member of more than one class? 

Yes; you can join one or both of the classes. 
Can I take out more than one membership in either class? 

Yes; you can take out memberships for as many friends or members of 

your family as you desire. 

SAVINGS AND LIFE INSURANCE 

The thrift that induces a man to build up a savings account in a 
bank and to make sound investments is similar to that which leads 
him to insure his life as liberally as he can for the benefit of his de- 
pendents. Indeed, it is probably fair to say that the man who insures 
his life shows more foresight and shrewdness than he who merely saves 
something from his current income. Certainly his thrift is the more 
truly unselfish and altruistic. 

But there is no quarrel between life insurance and the savings 



148 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 



Franklin's Natal Day 



will be observed 



by offering to the public the new "FRANKLIN" 
War Savings Stamps of the United States Government 




On Friday, January 17th, 1919 

213th Anniversary of Franklin s birth 

these new War Savings Stamps will be ready for distribution. 

"All things are cheap to the saving, dear to the wasteful.**— Benjamin Franklin 

SAVE — Buy War Savings Stamps at the 

Franft&n IhtM Company 

46 Wall Street, New York. 

166 Montague Street, Brooklyn 

569 Fulton Street, Brooklyn 

1001 Wallabout Market, Brooklyn 



Linking Franklin and thrift in the public mind 

account. The}?- ought to go hand-in-hand, and they often do. In 
their advertising the bank and the insurance agent can well cooperate, 
as they have successfully in a number of instances. Save in a savings 
account to get ready to meet your life insurance premiums when due ; 
when you, as a beneficiary, receive life insurance money, deposit it in 
a savings bank instead of risking it in uncertain ventures. This is 
the kind of reciprocity that ought to be practised in savings and life 
insurance advertising. 

Saving and life insurance are both handmaidens of thrift. They 
are not competitive, but supplementary to each other. A Cleveland 
bank advertises a plan to make the payment of life insurance premiums 
easy. The plan is simply to deposit weekly in a savings account so 
that when the annual or semi-annual premium is due the money will be 
on hand to meet it. People are urged to pay the premium annually, 
taking advantage of the better rate secured in this way and also 
receive interest instead of paying it. 



WARNING AGAINST FRAUDULENT INVESTMENTS 

The Savings Bank Section of the American Bankers' Association 
recommended the idea of using advertisements to warn the public 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 149 

against unprincipled promoters who are going about seeking whose 
Liberty Bonds they may devour. 

Such advertisements as the following were suggested : 
WATCH YOUR LIBERTY BONDS 

An Associated Press dispatch from Washington Saturday said that the best 
way to detect a stock promoting fake is to judge the promoters' willingness to 
take your Liberty Bonds in trade for their worthless securities. 

If anyone asks you to make such a trade or advises you to sell your bonds 
to procure the cash, shun him and his plan. 

He may have something good to offer, but it's a thousand to one you'll lose 
your bond and get nothing for it but a "scrap of paper." 

Good investments are good and we encourage investing. 

But consult someone who can judge before you take any step in this direction. 

SECURITY TRUST CO. 
BEWARE OP THE "STOCK" PROMOTER 

If you wish to invest, first consult your banker or any reliable broker. But 
our advice to you is to let "get rich quick" schemes alone if you value your cash. 
Don't let a. cheap appeal to greed get the better of your judgment. 

SECURITY TRUST CO. 

PARAGRAPHS FOR SAVINGS ADVERTISING 

More than ever before in the history of the nation there is need for thrift and 
industry in the home, on the farm, in the factory and in governmental affairs. 

Build up a fund for the future, to be prepared for its opportunities and emer- 
gencies — possibly for its actual necessities. 

Resolve to set aside part of your income every week and deposit it in a savings 
account, where it will be safe and earning interest for you 

Alter a year of practising common-sense thrift you won't know the difference 
as far as the comfort and pleasure you have had is concerned, but you will see 
the difference from your old way of living in the matter of your substantial re- 
sources. 

Systematic saving is the life plan of countless thousands of persons who have 
worked out their own economic salvation. 

This bank takes care of your savings, pays you good interest on the money, and 
when you get ready to invest your surplus, we stand ready to give you un- 
prejudiced advice as to how to put it out to the best advantage. 

The difference between the successful man and the failure in financial matters 
is usually the fact that one is systematically thrifty of his energy, his time 
and his money, while the other is not. 

These are sure rules for success — work hard and honestly, save part of your in- 
come regularly, and deposit your savings in a strong bank, where they will work 
for you constantly and profitably. 

Without contentment and an easy mind, no man is really happy or successful in 
his work. Save some of your money as a prudent man ought to, and it will make 
the future bright before you, instead of gloomy. 

Hexry Dexter, a successful New York merchant, said: "Make it the rule and 
practice of your life to set aside and save a part of every dollar you earn or re- 
ceive." 



150 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

In time of peace as well as in time of war general thrift is a great national re- 
source. It is extremely necessary now since "Work and Save" is the best remedy 
for the high cost of living. 

Theift — the management of your affairs so that the value of your possessions is 
being constantly increased — is a habit easily and pleasantly acquired. 

Some of the foremost men in every walk of life have gone on record as to the 
great benefits of systematic thrift — Washington, Lincoln, Gladstone, Bismarck, 
Roosevelt, Carnegie, Wanamaker, Rockefeller, Hill, Taft, Wilson, and scores of 
equal prominence and successful attainments, have preached and practised in- 
dustry and thrift. 

Right in this community, inquire, look around you, and ypu will find that the 
practice of thrift, directly or indirectly, has been the prime cause of the success 
of a great many of those who have reached the goal of affluence. 

Real estate options, sales, mortgages, rentals — these all mean profit to someone, 
but never to the man who has no money saved. 

The cost of high living is as important a question for the American people to con- 
sider as the high cost of living. It behooves us to stop and consider in these 
times the wisdom of old-fashioned thrift. 

This bank stands in this "community as a perpetual reminder of the importance 
of stemming the tide of present-day extravagance by having an anchor to wind- 
ward in the shape of a savings bank account. 

"Concentration is the secret of strength," said Emerson. A man of only aver- 
age ability, with concentration, can accomplish more than a man of unusual 
talents who lacks that power. When a man is extravagant he permits his mind 
to be distracted from the really important things in life. 

If you have a good-sized surplus in a savings account the interest it earns will 
materially help you to meet your expenses. If your account is small there is all 
the more reason for you to make it grow. 

Business houses want their employes to save money, and are anxious to promote 
those who can manage their own incomes wisely. 

One of the very greatest aids to thrift is an interest-earning savings bank account 
because it makes you systematic and provides you with an incentive to save. 

The dollar you spend so freely today will not be missed so much tomorrow as in 
the years to come. Provide for those years by saving regularly as much as you 
can every week and place your savings where they will earn a steady interest 
while receiving the greatest possible protection. 

You can't beat "Work and Save" as a remedy for. the "H. C. L." 

One of the best ways to get out and keep out of a rut is to have some fixed ob- 
ject to work for. Save money for some definite, worthy object and you will find 
it is comparatively easy, while without such an aim it is hard. Try the savings 
bank account method of getting ahead in the world. 

The anticipation of a future competence takes away the sting of present toil 
and self-sacrifice. If you have a vision of what you want to have or be, work 
and save now and you can accomplish it. 

Are you looking far enough ahead to be willing to do without some things now 
for the sake of having them with interest later on? 

Sometimes it requires unusual courage to say: "I can't afford it," but having 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 



151 



that courage brings its own reward. There are countless men and women 
throughout the country who are thankful they early learned that lesson. 

Having a savings bank account is one of the best possible incentives to saving. 
If you have one started, keep it up. If you have not opened one, come into this 
bank at your earliest convenience and find out about it. 

Put something into the bank every week, even if the amount is small. You will 
find that such regular savings accumulate rapidly and the money thus saved 
will come in very handy some time when you need it worse than you do now. 

It is the strong and confident man that gets ahead, and nothing gives one greater 
confidence than to have money in the bank. 

With money saved and in the bank you will not be afraid or unable to take ad- 
vantage of opportunities when they come to you, nor will the future look dark 
before you, because the fear of dependence will have been removed. 

It takes at least two to make household economy a practical thing. The ques- 



3 Reasons lor a 
Savings Account 

ONE of our savings depositors told 
us the other day that there were 
three reasons why he deposits regular- 
ly in a savings account. Here they are: 



I. 

II. 

III. 



Because it provides me with capital 
for emergencies or opportunities. 

Because it enables me to get com- 
pound interest to work for me. 



Because it gives me the habit of 
thrift. 



He also said he had three other 
reasons for his savings account — his 
wife and two children. 



Raw Nisruml Bamk 

42 Church Street Corner Crown 



Three reasons for saving 

tion of money need not cause domestic trouble if family finance is put on a fair 
basis of co-operation on the part of all concerned. 

Every surplus dollar not actually hidden away is earning money for somebody. 
Ask yourself seriously now, "Have I any surplus money working for me?" 

On account of our complete equipment and efficient management, we are able to 
give prompt, accurate and courteous service to all our depositors, and we seek 
the opportunity of extending that kind of service to many more. 

By opening an account for your youngsters with $1 and the agreement to sup- 
plement at regular intervals their weekly or monthly savings, you will foster in 
them the savings habit, and surely plan for the needs of early manhood and 
womanhood. 



Money saved from your earnings is insurance against failure because the cash 



152 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

is a very handy thing for an emergency or opportunity. Then there's the stiffen- 
ing of the moral backbone and the development of the judgment which are sure 
to come with the practice of thrift. 

Those who have habits of industry and wise economy are the only really happy 
persons. Industry and thrift are surely rewarded. The bank adds a stimulus 
to saving by the addition of interest every six months. 

The value of saving with an object in view is proved by the success of the 
many thrifty persons — especially those on wages or salary — who acquire owner- 
ship of their own homes on the monthly payment plan. You can save if you 
have to save. 

The success of your children to a large extent will depend upon the start you give 
them when they are young. It is not the amount of money you leave them so 
much as it is the kind of habits they learn from you. Are you teaching them 
to save money? 

The thrift habit has been at the root of most business successes. Are you going 
to give your children a start and encouragement along this line ? 

The dollar a child saves out of his own pocket money, if placed in the savings 
bank, where he can see it grow, means more than just a little money saved up. 
It will mean the firm establishment, early in life, of the habit of thrift, which 
will mean a great deal all through his career. 

Savings banks deal largely with women, not only because the men are busy during 
the regular banking hours, but because, as a rule, the women are the "saving 
element" in the family. 

Put a limit on your spending and hand the rest over to your wife. Let her run 
the house and start a savings account in this reliable institution, which has 
helped so many thrifty persons in this community. 

Money is a hard worker if you give it a chance. Save a3 much of it as you can. 
without being miserly or doing without things that you or your family ought 
to have. Then put it into this strong bank, where it will be safe and busy earn- 
ing interest for you. 

You can arrange to make all deposits and withdrawals by mail. Simply send 
us your first deposit in a letter with your name and we will return a savings 
account book to you. Currency should be sent by registered letter, a service any 
R. F. D. carrier will do for you. 

Dad and Mother should see that their boys and girls early learn the value of a 
savings account. 

The tendency sometimes is to give up attempts to save money when it seems hard 
to accomplish the result. Save five per cent, of your income if you cannot do 
any better, but save something, and let this bank help you with — per cent, com- 
pound interest. 

With your surplus money in a savings bank you can always get it when you 
want it, and you are sure that it is safe and profitably employed. 

Some "investments" offer little chance of the investor getting his money back. 
Even with legitimate investments it is often hard to get your money back 
quickly. While you may not often feel like drawing upon your savings in the 
bank, it is quite a comfortable feeling to know that you can get at your money 
quickly in case of need. 

A good way to save money is to imagine that your income is smaller than it is and 
put away the difference. You probably will find that you can live well on less 
money than you are spending now. 

Put the difference between your income and outgo into this bank. Then you will 
be getting ahead financially instead of standing still or running behind. 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 153 

Even as the most successful business enterprises are the best organized and man- 
aged, so the individual who uses forethought and system in the handling of his 
personal financial affair? is the most likely to make satisfactory progress. 

The thrifty man will surely get ahead. One of the greatest helps to systematic 
thrift is a savings bank account because it gives you a save place to keep your 
savings and enables your money to earn liberal interest for you. 

The salaried man or wage-earner can figure his year's profit only on the basis of 
the amount of money he has saved during the twelve months. Can you figure 
a profit or must you figure a loss on your year's work? 

Dividends are paid by net earnings, not by gross revenues. Money made is net 
profit, not income. If you are not a dividend-payer now, put yourself on a 
dividend-paying basis by starting a savings bank account as soon as you can, 
setting aside every week a definite proportion of your income to form a reserve 
fund. 

There is special need for the general practice of saving right now because in- 
dustry and thrift, by increasing production and reducing consumption, will help 
lower the high cost of living. 

If you are setting aside funds for some special purpose — interest on a mortgage, 
purchase of machinery, or new buildings, life insurance premiums or a home, 
why not deposit your money in an interest bearing savings account with us? 

If you always spend less than you earn you will always be "ahead of the game." 

There is no other investment where one can get at his money so quickly as in a 
savings account. Only under the most extraordinary circumstances is there 
ever any difficulty whatever in a savings depositor's getting his money or any part 
of it when he wants to draw it out of the bank. 

You will find that when you have money in the bank you won't want to draw it 
out on any slight pretext. It will be a real necessity that will lead you to spend 
money when you have it in the bank. For that reason it will make you perma 
nently better off to become a savings depositor. 

If you know just what you are spending each day you will quickly learn where 
you can reduce your expenses enough to have money in the bank. A record of 
family expenses will show you where this saving can be made. 

We have seen systematic plans for saving money work out so satisfactorily in 
hundreds of cases in our own experience and observation that we know it would 
pay you to adopt some such plan. Let us help you. 

Put money into the bank now while you can. You will not always be earning 
as much as you are today. And do not overlook the earning power of money 
deposited at — per cent, compound interest. 

Building a bank account is very much like growing corn. You plant your seed, 
give it regular attention, and in a short time it has repaid you many fold. 

Don't overlook this great help towards independence — an interest-bearing sav- 
ings account. 

If you feel that you have not as much money as you ought to have to show for 
all the hard work you have done, will you not consider the savings bank plan 
of building up a reserve fund from your earnings? 

Saving money systematically has a two-fold reward — it develops character and 
builds up capital which can be turned to good use. 



154 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 



A Dollar of Your Money 
and a Minute of YourTime 

That is all it takes'to start an account in our Savings Department. 
It is easy enough to. begin, but more difficult to continue saving 
regularly and systematically. 

This old financial institution is here to help you by providing you 
with a safe place to deposit your savings and by paying you 3 % 
compound interest on them. 




There is special need for the general practice of saving right now 
because industry and thrift, by increasing production and reducing 
consumption, will help lower the high cost of living. 

SAVINGS DEPARTMENT 




So easy to start an account 

Young people, if you are earning now for the first time, start a savings account 
at this bank with part of your first wages. Then keep it up and the habit of 
thrift will stay by you and help you as long as you live. 

There would be a lot more rich people in the world if wishes to have money were 
all that is necessary to get it. But you have to transform your wishing energy 
into working energy before you can make much of a start on the road to com- 
fort and financial independence. 

Don't put off starting to save, because the longer you procrastinate the harder 
it will be to begin. Let nothing prevent you from saving a portion of your 
income every week or every month. 

A savings bank account is the wisest plan to use in your efforts to get something 
ahead. 



No one wants to be a failure in life, but procrastination takes hold of many men 
and paralyzes their wills and weakens their efforts so that they are doomed to 
failure. Don't put off saving. 

As a depositary for your money, this old and reliable bank stands ready to help 
you with counsel, security and — per cent, compound interest. 

If you are only saving a dollar a week when you could save two, you are doing 
only half your duty. 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 155 

It is not a sensible thing to buy today's pleasure with tomorrow's pain. A sav- 
ings bank account started now and maintained regularly will prove a real friend 
in time of need. 

The habit of saving is not hard to acquire, as thousands of successful men and 
women will testify, but there has to be a desire to get the habit. 

Stick to your savings account until you have accumulated something worth while 
to invest. Then consult your banker about its investment. 

If you consider earnestly all the things you could accomplish if you had more 
money at your disposal, and then stop to think that a great many of these 
things are surely within your reach if you practice thrift and keep your eyes 
open for opportunities, you will have all the incentive necessary to save money. 

Save your dollars when you don't need them so you will have them when you do. 
That is the whole philosophy of thrift. It is as simple as it is sound and 
sensible. 

If we all paid more attention to our savings accounts than to our charge ac- 
counts it would be better for us all around. 

The ever recurring question, "Have you saved any money?" is met every time 
you ask an employer for a job. For most employers believe that the thrifty 
individual, the one who can manage his own financial affairs well, is fitted to take 
responsibility for the affairs of others. 

It is so easy to follow the line of least resistance that most men have not the 
strength of character to do anything else. Saving money is not the line of least 
resistance. Can you stem the tide of extravagance and actually save some 
money now? 

The editor of a well-known magazine in response to an inquiry said: "There is 
no better investment in the country for a small sum than a savings bank ac- 
count, and you will make no mistake in keeping your money there until you 
accumulate a larger amount." 

It has been said that no man ever got rich on a salary alone. But the habit 

of thrift can be acquired on the smallest salary, and that is much the same 

thing as wealth. The first thing necessary is a realization of the necessity of 
thrift. 

If you are at least thirty years of age, sit down at home this evening and figure 
out how much you would be worth today if you had saved 15 per cent, or 25 per 
cent, of your income, from the beginning. 

A purpose and a plan are necessary to successful saving. If you can think of 
some purpose for which you would like to save, this bank will suggest a plan for 
you to use in doing it. 

There is a sure and simple way to provide for a comfortable old age. It con- 
sists of making the most of the active jears of your life, not only in earning 
money, but also in saving it. 

Every time you make a deposit in the savings bank consider that it is providing 
just so much more for your necessities and comforts later on when your earning 
capacity diminishes and comes to an end, as it surely will, sooner or later. 



156 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

Do not count on your children or other relatives taking care of you when you 
become old. Good hard cash in the bank will prove your best friend in time of 
need, so far as material things go. 

A savings bank account is a first aid to savers. It gives you a feeling of security, 
both as to the safety of your money now and as to your comfort in the future. 

If you want to live and work now with an easy mind and face the future with 
confidence, start a savings account at once and keep adding to it regularly. 

Unless you promptly deposit in the bank a certain percentage of your earnings 
each pay-day, you are likely always to be a wage-earner and solely dependent 
upon a "job." 

Get out of the interest-paying class and into the interest-receiving class by 
adopting a saving plan and sticking steadfastly to it. 

In providing for the present necessities and comfort of your children, don't 
forget the needs of the future. You are a wise parent if, even with some incon- 
venience, you save money for the education of your children. You owe it to 
them. 

This reliable bank has suggestions that will help you save; we protect your 
money and pay you a liberal interest on it when you put it into the bank; 
and when you get ready to invest it we can give you sound advice on putting 
your money out safely and profitably. 

Foe the sake of cutting a good figure in society many persons cut no figure at 
the bank. They sacrifice future comfort and independence for the sake of a little 
present satisfaction. 

It is the man who looks ahead who gets ahead. Maintaining a savings account 
almost automatically provides its own reward in the form of mental satis- 
faction, moral uplift and material wealth. 

There are two classes in every community — the savers and the non-savers. The 
savers are sacrificing now perhaps. The non-savers are going on in their happy- 
go-lucky way, spending every cent they earn. It does not take much of a prophet 
to tell which class of persons will be in the more comfortable circumstances ten 
or twenty years from now. 

The more you save the better dividend-payer you are, and as results are the 
best test of efficiency, it ought not to be difficult for every man to prove how 
effective his efforts are. 

If you want real pleasure live for more than the present, and if you do that, 
one of the most important parts of your life plan will be to save from your 
present income to provide a fund for your needs at that future time when you 
will cease remunerative work — either from choice or necessity. 

Make every day and every week count in your efforts to build up a reserve 
fund for emergency and opportunity, and do not overlook the fact that — com- 
pound interest will work for you every day you have money in this bank. 

It is questionable whether reckless expenditures are ever justifiable, but cer- 
tainly in the present time of high prices and industrial unrest we should all 
think twice before we spend once. 



SAYINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 



157 




MADISON and KEDZIE 

- - STATE BANK - - 

RESOURCES OVER, A MILLION DOLLARS 



Front cover of a thrift booklet 

Deposits are the very lifeblood of a bank's business. Without the money that 
customers deposit in the bank there would be very little money to lend, and, 
without money to lend, a bank would not be of much use in the community. 

Every dollar you deposit in this bank increases your resources more than an 
equal amount, because — per cent, interest compounded twice a year will steadily 
augment the results of your own efforts. 



A savings account will make you save. Open one now and prepare for your 
comfort in that future time when failing strength and lessening income will 
make money saved and working for you a great blessing indeed. 

Your dollar in the bank is worth several dollars in your pocket. Money in the 
bank works for you and you run no risk of losing it as you do when you carry 
it with you. 



158 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

If any young man starting out in life will make up his mind to save one-tenth 
of his income and stick to this determination through thick and thin, he will have 
enough to retire on in his old age just from accumulated savings and interest, 
while judicious investments from time to time would put him in really com- 
fortable circumstances. 

Whatever your earnings are, conduct yourself as if they were one-tenth less and 
put the difference into a savings account. You will never miss what you put 
away, but later on it will be a comfort and a stay to you. 

Self-sacrifice does not have a pleasant sound in most ears, but a certain amount 
of it is absolutely necessary if you would succeed, by your own efforts, in build- 
ing up a competence. 

Children's savings accounts can be opened at this bank in either of two ways — 
in the name of the child, or in the parent's name in trust. By the latter method 
the parent controls the withdrawals. In either case the child can make deposits 
and learn early the forms of banking and the value of economy. 

Waste prevention is just as important for your personal finances as it is for 
the business with which you are connected. 

When the hour of dire need draws nigh, it is only the man with money in the 
bank who faces it with composure. A savings bank account cannot be surpassed 
as an incentive and aid to savings. 

Cut out your extravagance and save some money today for the time when you 
will need it a good deal worse than you do now. 

Save your dollars and they will save you from the many worries and difficulties 
of those who are always without any funds to fall back upon in an emergency. 

At the present time there is great need for systematic saving in this community 
just as there is everywhere in the United States. 

One reason why there is so much want, failure, distress, and often ruin and 
disgrace, is because so many people never deny themselves, but live beyond their 
means to keep up appearances. 

If you want to succeed, young man, cut out extravagance, and build up a sav- 
ings account until you have enough to invest. Then consult your banker. 

The qualities of honesty, energy, frugality, are more necessary than ever today 
and there is no success without them. Each of these qualities is promoted by 
a savings bank account. 

There is nothing that makes a man realize his responsibility and opportunity 
in the community as much as becoming interested in systematic thrift. 

This bank has helped many persons on the road to financial success and inde- 
pendence, and stands ready to help you. 

A man with a little money can do much by investing it wisely, and opportunities 
are constantly presenting themselves to the man who has some cash resources 
that he can lay his hands on quickly. 

Unknown to other members of the family, a thrifty woman will save a dollar 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 159 

here and a dollar there, where a man could not. Many a period of misfortune 
has been tided over by the forethought of wife and mother. This institution 
takes particular pleasure in caring for such savings accounts. 

The savings bank does not compete with the commercial bank. It has a field 
of its own, but savings accounts are by no means of advantage only to wage- 
earners and persons of moderate income. 

A savings account affords these special advantages — absolute security, liberal 
interest and training in thrift. 

It is the unexpected that usually happens — especially in money matters. But 
there is one sure way to be prepared for unexpected misfortune, that is build up 
a bank account. 

Start a bank account at once. Put part of your earnings into it every week, 
even if the weekly amount seems small. It will mount up faster than you realize. 

Are you prepared for emergencies? Money in the bank will be a great help. 

Keep on saving. Build up your savings account at this bank. You won't be poor 
if you save regularly and learn to invest wisely. 

Many of our most successful and influential depositors started with a savings 
account of modest dimensions. Make up your mind to follow this example. A 
savings account here will help. 

At the close of this year are you going to be any better off than you were at the 
end of last year? If you have not got ahead so far there is yet some time to 
redeem yourself. 

Lay something aside now for the emergencies as well as the opportunities of the 
future. Why not open that savings account now and let us add compound 
interest to your savings twice a year while we keep your money safe for you. 

There are plenty of good business opportunities nowadays in this country for 
the person who is equipped in every way to seize them and make the most of 
them. 

The husband and wife should make their plans together; she is as willing to 
sacrifice as he is to labor — and her willingness to save is as important a factor in 
their success as is his ability to earn. 

You need to concentrate your efforts to save money. Having an object in view — 
getting an education, establishing a home, providing for old age — will give you 
enthusiasm. 

The man with money saved and in the bank is in much better shape to grapple 
with hard luck than the man who has spent all his substance in days when he 
thought he would always have good luck. 

"With the vast majority of young men and young women, the life plan includes 
the gradual accumulation of a fortune. The first rule that they need to learn 
is to live within their means. 

It is a good rule to spend less than you earn and put the difference into the 
bank. Even though small, this would in time grow into a considerable amount. 



160 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

Open a savings account today and we know that the chances are greatly in favor 
of maintaining it regularly and gradually accumulating a reserve fund quite 
worth while. 

It isn't a good idea to carry a lot of small bills and loose change around with 
you because the money gets away from you too easily. 

Men who make money fast often lose it fast. They run risks and take chances. 
They are under nervous strain continually and never know just how they are 
coming out. 

This bank takes pride in the number of children's accounts it has. Bring your 
children here and let them learn "business" early. 

Come into the bank any time and we will be pleased to tell you some excellent 
ways to save money — methods of economy that have proved successful in the 
actual experience of thrifty men and women. 

It is a wise thing to have a code of saving, but like a code of morals, it isn't 
any good unless lived up to. 

Money saved will be one of your best friends — a protection in adversity and a 
preparation for opportunity. 

A good many persons say that they believe in the wisdom of saving money, in 
general, but as far as they are concerned, they will have to wait awhile before 
starting to save. 

Even for a moderate degree of success in getting on in the world, systematic 
saving of a portion of the income is absolutely necessary. 

By regular saving you will surely acquire a competence. Then if anything 
should happen you would have something to lean upon. 

Practically all of the country's most successful men of the self-made type 
attribute the beginning of their success to habits of industry and saving. 

In the long run, the gain is greater if you do not try to "get rich quick," but 
systematically save a portion of your income and regularly deposit it in a reliable 
institution like this, where it will be safely at work for you. 

How often we hear the expression, "Such and such a man is getting on in the 
world." The chances are ten to one that good old-fashioned thrift is one of 
the fundamental causes for his success. 

Every American wage-earner should save regularly so that in times of reduced 
earning or enforced idleness he and those dependent upon him may not suffer. 

Adopting a definite system surely helps you save, because in a way it forces 
you to economize. You will feel that you must save and you will save. 

There is a certain woman who has had an account in our Savings Department 
for several years. She built it up from her household allowance without her 
husband's knowledge. But he found out about it when he had an accident and 
was laid up for three months. It came in handy then, not only for living- 
expenses but to meet the husband's life insurance premium which fell due while 
he was still unable to work and earn. 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 



161 



Think of that savings bank book in your inside pocket once in a while and 
you can always look the world squarely in the eye. 

i r 0UR money will earn good interest here and will be kept perfectly safe for 
your permanent investment or other use later on. 

It is surprising how quickly you can create capital when you go about it in the 
proper way with determination. 

Your running expenses ought to be less than your earnings by a considerable 
margin and you ought to save the balance. 




CLASSIFICATI ONS AN D PAYMENTS 

REDUCING CLASSES l UNIFORM CLASSES 



On Ml ol These QassfflaUons and Any Multiples Thereol ( Per teit Inleresl Has Been Added 



WachoviaBank&TrustCo. 1 



The example of others who have succeeded through thrift 

The man who plods on and on, just able to make ends meet, and laying nothing 
aside, has his nose to the grindstone. There are thousands in this sad plight. 
How about you? 

Are you ready for the financial oppprtunities that will come to you? Good 
credit or ready cash — money saved — is needed to seize them. 

Funding the capital of your working years insures your future. But choose 
the right place to put your capital, or the hard-earned savings of a lifetime may 
be swept away in a day. 

If there is anything that will tend to make a man peaceful and benevolent it is 
to have his mind at rest in regard to financial matters. 

The savings bank account has been the foundation of many a fortune. 

Creating a reserve is not difficult once you start to save money systematically. 
But if you ever expect to be independent financially through your own efforts you 
must make the start. 

A leak is usually noticed at once. A drip may go on unobserved for a long time 
and in the end cause a great loss. 

It is easy to avoid great unnecessary expenditures, but it is the aggregate of 
the many small amounts you spend foolishly that keeps you from success. 



The thrifty man squanders neither his substance nor his vitality. 



162 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

These closing days of the old year cause the thoughtful man to consider what 
progress he is making in various lines, especially in the matter of resources. 

Can you figure a profit or a loss on your year's work? Think about this matter 
earnestly now and decide to let this strong bank help you be thrifty next year. 

Besides the actual amount of money you store up, thrift teaches you lessons of 
self-restraint, industry and business-like methods of inestimable value to you as 
long as you live. 

A regular plan of saving, adopted and religiously carried out, has been proved 
by the experience of many thrifty persons to be the only way to save success- 
fully. 

The word "economy" often calls to mind hard work and self-sacrifice. But it is 
really a worthy thing, because money saved is the fruit of industry and deter- 
mination of character. 

Nowadays young people cannot be too well prepared for the battle of life. 
You are a wise parent, therefore, if, even with some inconvenience, you save 
money, for the future education of your children. 

When, as a Christmas gift for your son or daughter, you start a savings account 
for him or her you are doing a very wise thing, because you are making it easy 
for the young person to acquire the saving habit. 

A prominent financier is authority for the statement that we are living in an 
age of world-wide financial delirium and that lavish expenditure has now grown 
to be a national trait. 

A dollar saved is worth two squandered, because you are a dollar ahead when 
you prevent one from being squandered and another ahead when you do not 
spend that dollar at all. 

Better than a gift of money is the gift of making money. A large part of that 
is the habit of saving because it provides capital with which to work. 

The dollar you save is worth more than a hundred cents because it has an 
earning capacity which will work for your benefit as long as you keep it in the 
bank. 

One of the best recommendations you can give to your prospective employer 
is your savings bank book showing regular deposits. One manager of a great 
business said: "I do not care what a man's capabilities may be, I will not give 
him a responsible position until he has demonstrated that he can save money 
regularly." 

There is nothing most parents would rather do than make their children happy. 
When you start a savings account for each of yours at this bank, you not only 
give them pleasure now, but you make the beginning of something which will 
insure their future happiness — the habit of thrift and money actually saved and 
working for them. 

"Save, young man," said Benjamin Franklin, "and become respectable and re- 
spected. It is the surest way." 

Ir you must live on a moderate income it is better to work hard to save part 
of it than to strive to live in a style that is beyond your means. 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 163 

Every earnest man should early make it part of his life plan to acquire a com- 
petence to protect himself and his loved ones from dependence and want. 

If you want to avoid vain regrets in later years, discomfort all your life, and a 
penniless and cheerless old age, save some of the money you are earning now. 

While you may not very often feel like drawing upon your savings, it is quite 
a comfortable feeling to know that you can get at your money quickly in case 
of need. 

The very best aid in saving is having an interest-bearing bank account in a good, 
reliable institution like this. It provides an incentive to you, and security 
and profitable employment for your surplus earnings. 

The little savings bank in the home and the account in the bank means more 
for the future of the children of a family, almost, than all the advice in the world. 
It gives them the right start. 

Are you preparing yourself for opportunities and "the rainy day" by saving 
part of your income regularly? 

You can enlist the services of this wonderful worker, interest, in your own 
behalf. Deposit all the money you can spare and see what — per cent, compound 
interest will do for you. 

If any resident of this community does not save money, the chances are ten to 
one that it is because he does not want to and not because he can't. 

Create your capital by saving a portion of your income regularly. Then you will 
experience the earning power of money and begin to reap the full benefits of 
industry and thrift. 

Merely saving, while a good thing in itself, is not all there is to thrift, which 
seeks not merely to save, but to earn. 

In every community there are always some men like "Mr. Micawber," in Dickens' 
"David Copperfield," who was always waiting for something to turn up. 

The hustler goes and turns things up himself, realizing that the surest way to 
succeed is to be prepared for opportunities when they come. 

While it is true that every man must hoe his own row, the wise man will seek 
the co-operation of others whenever possible. Most successful men maintain 
business relations with a good bank which helps them to create and preserve 
capital. 

Saving money is only half your duty. The other half is to set your money at 
work safely and profitably. 

There are safe investments that pay more than — per cent., but, as a rule, they 
require a considerable amount of money, and, in any event, it is wise to be careful 
about going into them. 

It will be a real necessity that will lead you to spend money when you have it 
in the bank. For that reason it will make you permanently better off to become 
a savings depositor. 



164 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

In a savings bank account your money is always at your command when you feel 
that you must have it, but you will find that you won't want to draw it out 
on any slight pretext. 

While you are waiting for your opportunity, leave your surplus cash in this 
strong bank. Your money will be safe and every dollar will be earning — com- 
pound interest. 

It is only under the most extraordinary circumstances that there is any diffi- 
culty whatever in a savings depositor getting his money or any part of it when 
he wants to draw it out of the bank. 




to j*et into the 

THRIFT CIRCLE 

of the 

Old National 
Bank 

of Spokane 

A car card for thrift 

Saving money and depositing it in the bank is just as reasonable for you as it is 
for the farmer to harvest and store his crops. 

There are persons whose earning capacity is no greater than their daily needs, 
especially in the slums of the great cities, but we are certain there are very few 
in this prosperous community who can truthfully say that they can't save any- 
thing. 

It is unnecessary to go into scientific discussion of this question. Common sense 
and observation must prove to you the wisdom of an interest-bearing savings bank 
account. 

Do you know where your spare money goes? Ask most any reasonably frank 
person this question and he will tell you he has no idea. His pay envelope or 
check is gone and he has nothing but food and clothing to show for it. His 
necessities cost a good deal, it is true, but he should have something left. A sav- 
ings bank book will help you answer that question. Its frequent deposits will 
leave you in no doubt as to where part of your money goes. You will know 
where your savings are and what they are earning for you all the time. 

It will pay you to get the habit of saving, as that is one of the most important 
elements of success. We have helped hundreds of men and women to form this 
habit and they are thanking us for it. 



Even if you do have to sacrifice a little now, think of the comfort and satisfac- 
tion of being free from anxiety and care later on when you are unable to work 
and earn. 



When 



you store up a portion of the rewards of your toil you create capital and 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 165 

build up a fund which will support you and those dependent upon you, or provide 
you with means to increase your earnings still further. 

The elements of success include a thrifty and cheerful disposition. If you have 
set your face toward the goal of success, cultivate this disposition. It will surely 
pay you. 

You can be ready for sudden demands if you are thrifty. Circumstances will 
arise when you will need money and need it quickly or suffer great inconvenience 
for the lack of it. 

Most women know how to save money better than men. In some families it is 
the other way around, but as a very general rule the women are the savers. 

You won't be ruled by circumstances if you prepare yourself for emergencies and 
opportunities by building up a cash reserve by a savings bank account in a trust- 
worthy institution like this. 

The value of your thrift is not to be measured only by the actual amount of 
money you save. It is worth a great deal to be able to do more and better work 
and to be happy while you work. 

Cesar said : "I came, I saw, I conquered." The modern conqueror says : "I 
work, I save, I succeed." Have YOU adopted this motto? 

One of the most sensible New Year's resolutions that any person can make is to 
save money systematically and to deposit it regularly in this strong savings 
bank. 

When you save money you are simply "funding your earnings," creating capital, 
which is: "That portion of the produce of industry which may be directly em- 
ployed to support life or assist in production." 

One of our regular depositors, a girl, started her account when she was making 
only $9 a week. She is earning $14 now and has increased her savings accord- 
ingly. One day we asked her how she did it. She told us she made her own 
dresses and hats and put into her savings account what she saved by doing so. 

For the great majority of people the best form of investment of savings is an 
interest-bearing account in a reliable bank. 

With money in bank you are like the farmer who has garnered his grain. You 
take part of your income not used for daily needs and put it away for use when 
you will need it more than you do now. 

It really takes two to save money in the household, for a man's notion of economy 
and a woman's are mutual correctives. 

The best way to learn true thrift is to save a portion of your income regularly 
and deposit it in a strong bank where interest will give you a practical demon- 
stration of the earning power of money. 

Extravagance causes financial ills in the nation it is true, but its effect on 
individuals is the more important because no nation is more prosperous than its 
people. 

Your future success depends upon today's industry and thrift. It is a worthy 



166 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

desire that prompts every earnest man to accumulate enough money to help 
over the hard places and provide for the future. 

If misfortune does come to you at any time, you will be better prepared to cope 
with it if you have money saved and working for you in the bank. 

Temperance and ihrilt are virtues which act and re-act upon each other, strength- 
ening both, and are seldom found apart. 



IA 



Resolved 



That I shall live within my income. 

That I shall save a part for the future. 

That I shall be conservative in my investments 
and not speculate. 

That I shall make my will and protect my wife 
and children. 




Interest at 




Trust & Deposit Company 
of Onondaga 

100-104 North Salina Street, Syracuse, N. Y. 

A thrift resolution 

We are all creatures of habit. It is easier to form a new habit than it is to 
break an old one. By the time we are thirty it is next to impossible to do either. 

At the end of the year the business man casts up his accounts to see how he is 
coming out on his year's business. The wage-earner can figure his profit only on 
the basis of the amount of money he has saved during the year. 

One of the greatest benefits of systematic economy is the mental effect — peace 
of mind and correct habits of life. 



Who deposits your money in the bank? SOMEBODY does. Are YOU saving 
some of your income and systematically putting it away where it will work for 
YOUR benefit, or is it all slipping through your fingers into the pocket and bank 
account of SOMEBODY ELSE? 



Grubbing, cheese-paring, squeezing and saving every possible cent, at 



the e\ 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVEETISING 167 

pense of self-respect, comfort and health — Not for an instant do we want you 
to think that we advocate anything like that. 

When you make up your mind to save make the bank part of your plan. This 
strong institution has helped a great many persons to financial independence. 

Health, self-respect, freedom from worry about the present and anxiety for the 
future. Do these things mean anything to you? Saving money systematically 
will help you to each of them. 

Thrift is a very simple thing, but it means a great deal. It is better to save 
sensibly now than to want or be dependent later on. 

You and your boy or girl co-operating ought to make a savings account big enough 
in a few years to pay for a thorough education, or to provide cash to go into 
business or buy a home. 

We do not encourage any one to be stingy. But many persons have never 
stopped to consider that between saving money sensibly and being stingy there 
is a vast difference. 

The average woman can save if she will only start some system. If you put 
aside the modest sum of five cents a day it is making a start. 

Money saved and safely and profitably employed is the best kind of insurance 
against adversity, as countless thousands of people have found out by actual 
experience. 

Learning to save may be worth as much to you as your ability to do things. 
Make the experiment for awhile. It may open your eyes and result greatly to 
your permanent benefit. 

Thrift at once earns and saves, with a view to wholesome and profitable expendi- 
ture at a fitting time. But although saving alone is not thrift it is an indis- 
pensable part of it. 

Every man, and particularly the young man, should get the success habit. The 
right way to acquire it is to cling steadfastly to every purpose made and every 
task attempted until you are successful. 

It may be you have reached the age of forty and have not a cent laid by for old 
age. If so, it is not a pleasant prospect, but system and persistence in saving 
will do a lot for you yet— IF YOU BEGIN AT ONCE. 

You have sincere cause for thanksgiving at this time if you have money in the 
bank. You can enjoy a happy Thanksgiving because you have a reserve fund for 
emergencies — something to preserve your peace of mind. 

The foundation of thrift is a pretty good one to build upon. This has been 
proved over and over again in the experience of successful men and women in 
every country and in every time. 

A particulariy strong point about a savings account as an investment is the 
fact that there is no worry or bother in connection with it, while at the same 
time the safe and sure interest return is a profitable one. 

For ninety-nine out of a hundred persons, saving money regularly is the only 



168 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

way to reach comfortable circumstances, and savings bank account is the greatest 
aid to systematic saving. 

Apply to the masses of men any of the tests that indicate success or failure in 
life, and none more clearly than thrift will separate the respected and useful 
from the unsatisfactory members of society. That was Andrew Carnegie's 
opinion. 

Saving money now, while you are making more than you need day by day, is 
like storing up power for future use. It will give you resources to use when 
your daily needs exceed your earning capacity. 

A savings bank account is the best debt-preventive, because it provides you 
with a surplus and compound interest gives you a special incentive to save 
money. 

The practice of rigid economy will make you a better business man, a better 
man to your family and friends, and better citizen generally. 

We accept savings accounts of minors subject to withdrawal under parental 
authority. One dollar is enough to begin an account. 

If you have not started on the thrift road to financial success, take the first step 
now by opening a savings account in this strong bank. 

You can build up a financial "storage battery" with this bank by keeping an 
account for regular saving. 

Don't you think you will do better work when you know that no one can come 
to you with a claim on next week's income? 

Work hard; save part of your income regularly; deposit your savings where they 
will work for you safely and profitably. 

The simple life has its compensations, not the least of which are good health 
and contentment, and the rewards of industry and thrift are just as sure as 
ever. 

With a lot of money in your pocket you fall an easy victim to your own 
extravagance and the requests of your borrowing friends. Put it in the bank. 

Of course, illness or other hard luck may come to you, and then your outgo will 
exceed your income, but if you have been wise and saved money you need not 
suffer for want of necessities and comforts. 

Teach your children the value of money by encouraging them to save systematic- 
ally and to deposit regularly in a strong, interest-paying bank like this. 

There comes a consciousness of power from the fact that you have money saved 
up and from the fact that you have exercised some very admirable qualities of 
mind and heart in acquiring that surplus. 

Start a savings account with this strong bank now and put your surplus money 
where it will be safe from yourself and from others who may have designs upon it. 

The only way to prepare for a time of opportunity is to lay by as much money 
as you can now. Put it into a strong, safe bank like this and let it earn com- 
pound interest for you while you are waiting. 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 



169 



1920 January 1920 


Sun. 


Mon. 


Tues. 


Wed. 


Thurs. 


Fri. 


Sat. 










1 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 


10 



On Any of These Days 

Money deposited with us 
will draw 

INTEREST 

From January 1st 

1f That is to say, deposits received. as 
late as 6 P, M., Saturday, January 
10th, if left until the end of March will 
draw interest for 3 full months, in 
spite of the fact that we have only had 
it for 2 months and 20 days. 

®$ Syracuse Stust Gin. 

Capital and Surplus $2,500,000 
SYRACUSE g^StfSffiiSS NEW YORK 

Member Federal Reserve System Open Saturdays from 9 a. m. to 6 t>. m. 



An incentive to start today 

The way to build up a reserve fund is not to wait until you can put a lot of 
money into the bank, but to save and deposit the small amounts as you go along. 

It will be of advantage to you in every way to become a regular saver and bank 
depositor. 

You feel more independent and you are more independent when you have money 
saved. Don't sell your independence for the sake of a little temporary luxury 
which you don't need at all. 

Abe you earning more than you need? Almost anybody can be thrifty when 
he earns less than he needs. It is the unusual man who can be thrifty when he 
earns more than he needs. 

When you experience the pleasure of seeing the figures in your pass-book show 
a steadily increasing balance, aided by the semi-annual compound interest credits, 
it is easy to keep up the good work. 

There are a lot of people who are seizing the present only to have a good time, 
neglecting to provide for the future, which may be a time of storm and stress 
for them. 

With money in the bank you can laugh at a great many troubles that would 
"floor" you if you had no financial resources to fall back on. 



170 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

Saving part of your present income to create a reserve fund is one of the wisest 
ways to prepare for the future. 

You can always keep out of debt if you spend less than you earn and put your 
surplus into a good strong bank. 

The boy who early becomes familiar with banks and the earning power of money 
will have a distinct advantage when he starts on his business career. 

After the start the rest is easy. You find that you acquire the saving habit, 
and then the thrift instinct grows. The extent to which small sums grow in the 
bank is astonishing. 

When you speculate you do not know you will win. You only hope to win. 
Stick to the savings bank. 

A prominent millionaire put $100 into a savings bank fifty years ago and has 
never withdrawn it. He says: "Its influence as an anchorage in all crises of a 
long life has been incalculable." 

When you reach the conclusion that another field would prove more profitable to 
you, the great question will be, "Can I finance the change?" 

There are various paths that lead to fortune, but if you expect to acquire a com- 
petence through your own efforts, there is only one starting point — the regular 
saving of a portion of your income. 

The possession of money you have earned and saved yourself makes you inde- 
pendent mentally as well as in regard to material things. 

You can do what you want to do if you work hard enough. You can be what you 
want to be if you want it hard enough. 

A savings account helps you mentally and morally by making you systematic 
in your business methods and teaching you to say "No" to importunate present 
demands for money which you ought to save for future needs. 

A prominent educator says: "The time for a boy to begin to save is when he is 
in the High School, say from twelve or thirteen on for the next four years." 

A savings account provides you with surplus cash, to use for emergencies, un- 
expected necessities, or even such luxuries as you feel you ought to have. 

To become independent one must pay the price, which is Industry and Thrift. 
For the vast majority of us, the only road to competence lies through hard work 
and economy. 

It is only by being systematic in saving a part of the weekly or monthly income 
that the average person can ever hope to get very far ahead financially. 

If you have reached 30 and haven't saved $1,000 just blame yourself — much more 
if you haven't saved anything. 

We believe that with money in bank a man is a better citizen than he otherwise 
would be. For the average person the only way to get ahead in money matters 
is to save systematically a portion of the income and deposit it regularly in a 
good, safe bank where it will be earning day and night. 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 171 

The average man in this country should have at least $1,000 saved up and in 
the hank by his thirtieth birthday. 

Perhaps you can be happy without money, but we are sure that your Christmas- 
tide will be merrier with money in the bank, especially if you put it there 
yourself. 

With your money in a savings account at this bank, you can command your 
reserve the moment you need it. 

If you have been a regular savings bank depositor, you not only have surplus 
funds to fall back upon, but you have been developing invaluable habits of thrift. 

You cannot buy a home, even on the instalment plan, without making a con- 
siderable cash payment. That is the first thing to save money for. Having such 
an object in view will help you wonderfully. 

If you have not been saving part of your income regularly this year let us sug- 
gest that now is a good time to lay your plans to do better next year. 

Your steadily growing bank account provides a powerful incentive to save more 
money. 

A bank account benefits your standing in the community. There is a great 
satisfaction in being known as a man who has a surplus on hand to meet his 
bills and obligations. 

This bank pays special attention to the comfort and convenience of its women 
customers. 

It is a pretty safe thing to say that about everybody can use more money. For 
most persons, there are just two ways to have more money — earn more or save 
more. Why not do both? 

Keeping a bank account encourages habits of saving, not only on the part of 
the head of the house but among members of the family as well. 

The wisest course for the person of moderate resources is to keep entirely clear 
of speculation, no matter what form it takes. 

Become a regular depositor in a good strong institution like this. Create a r*»- 
serve fund and show that you are one of the "fittest," who survive. 

Few persons are so poor that they can not save something. 

The president of a large manufacturing company urges his employes to save 
twenty per cent, of their salaries regularly, because the company is glad to 
promote those who can manage their own incomes well. 

The actual accumulation of money is the outward and visible sign that a man 
is really thrifty, and although thrift means more than just saving, to a large 
extent saving is the measure of a man's progress. 

You might as well have the feeling of security that comes from a prudent hand- 
ling of your financial matters. Start a savings bank account. That is the first 
step. 



172 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 



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If you are having pretty fair luek in your business, if you get a larger salary, 
don't let it turn your head. As your income increases, let your savings increase 
in a larger ratio than your expenditures. 

No matter how large your income, nor how great a balance you may carry with 
the commercial department of a banking institution, you should put part of 
your income into the savings bank. 



The psychological effect of saving is that you are enabled to give your whole 
attention and best efforts to your work. In short, when you save regularly you 
can do better work and more of it. 

The saying is that "Knowledge is power." It is particularly true that the 
knowledge that you can overcome obstacles comes through thrift and it gives 
you additional power. 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 173 

You can save money without being really thrifty, but you can't be thrifty without 
saving money. 

The housewives of the country are the "committee of appropriations" in every 
family, and like most such committees, they arc predisposed to economy. 

Everybody — even those who believe they are rich — should have a savings bank 
account. We know of no other — per cent, investment so convenient and satis- 
factory, nor is there any other where you can get at your money so quickly 
when you need it. 

Successful business men are unanimous in expressing the opinion that success 
comes through saving. 

Economy is a word that sounds harsh. There is very little music in it for most 
ears, but when you look at it in the right way, thrift is a pleasant thing. 

Willingness to sacrifice now in order to have enough for the future necessities 
of yourself and those dependent upon you is one of the most desirable qualities 
you can develop. 

The man who has $1,000 a year to live on, or $1,500, may be just as wasteful in his 
extravagance, proportionately to his income, and may be even more justly blamed 
for it than the man who has an annual income of $25,000, $50,000, or $1,000,000. 

A man who is financially dependent, whose daily resources are sufficient only for 
daily needs, can never enjoy the fullest measure of freedom and self respect. 

There is pleasure and satisfaction in the orderliness which thrift demands. 
There is joy in the anticipation of the comfort and relaxation which is the future 
reward of present industry and economy. 

Financial independence is something everyone wants to enjoy, but at the same 
time it is something that not everyone wants to work for. 

To save money wisely, husband and wife ought to co-operate. A savings bank 
account has solved the problems of household economy in countless homes. 

It is wonderful what an amount of dignity and confidence one gets from the 
fact that he has a growing bank account. 

If you have not already made regular saving part of your life plan, do so at once. 
You will never regret it and you may have great cause for thanksgiving later 
if you practice savings bank thrift now. 

It is the easiest thing in the world to spend money foolishly or carelessly. But 
successfully resisting the temptation brings two rewards — a stiffening of your 
mental and moral backbone and an increase in your material resources. 

You are no exception. You ought to save even on general principles, and you 
can't tell how soon you will be very glad you have a savings account in the bank 
drawing interest. 

We have on our books many depositors who live in smaller towns and farming 
communities in this section. These persons do their business with us through the 
mails with safety and convenience. 



174 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

Money in the bank will be a bulwark of defense for you in time of need. Begin 
now to prepare for the future. 

Use the savings bank and in a comparatively short time you can have a good 
sum of money at your disposal for "profitable expenditure" if you wish. 

Even bad luck and failure may be stepping stones to success if you have the 
right stuff in you. This has been the experience of thousands of ambitious men 
and women everywhere. 

Many a man has lost good business opportunities by not being prepared, finan- 
cially, to grasp them. 

You need the power which comes from saving money and putting it away safely. 
There is a two-fold benefit from the practice of economy — you develop character 
and you accumulate capital. 

The saver is a better citizen and a stronger man in every way. Increase your 
savings and your self respect at the same time. 

Don't go through life ruled by circumstances. Put yourself in a position to con^ 
trol circumstances and turn them to your own advantage. 

The boy with his pockets full of pennies is not satisfied until he has spent all of 
them. It is often the same with children of a larger growth. 

It is a good deal easier to spend that five dollars when it is in your pocket than 
it is when you must first go to the bank and draw it out. 

The feminine inclination is to be "penny wise and pound foolish"; the masculine 
tendency is a contempt for the small economies which collectively result in a 
considerable saving. 

Oue thrift talks in these advertisements have done you no good unless you 
have actually begun to save some of your money. 

Do something about this now. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose. 

Young man, if you have not already begun to build up a reserve, why not make 
this your Independence Day by deciding to begin at once to save systematically 
and deposit your savings in the bank regularly? 

No one can afford to miss the comfortable feeling that comes with the possession 
of a savings account. 

Banking by mail is simply the application to the use of individual depositors 
of the system in vogue among banks. It is perfectly safe. 

Enforced economy is one of the greatest factors in success. It may be enforced 
•by circumstances or by your own resolution, but in the end it brings its reward. 

Money is stored labor. The more of it you have saved the less you will need 
to work because you have stored labor at your command. 

Capital is a product of industry. Everyone who works creates it. The question 
that should concern you is, Do you get your full share of the capital you create ? 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 175 

It won't do you any harm to imagine your income smaller than it is. You 
probably will find that you can live on less money than you are spending now. 

Put your savings into this strong bank and you will be getting financially 
stronger instead of standing still or running behind. 

It is natural and easy to follow the line of least resistance. But it leads no- 
where. 

Start a savings account today for one or more of your children. Can you think 
of a more desirable Christmas or birthday present? 

The mill will never grind with the water that is past, and the money you spend 
foolishly is gone beyond recall. 

A great writer has said that the measure of a man's worth is his "capacity to 
do without." 

The savings bank plan is really so easy and simple that a great many persons 
overlook it entirely or keep putting off their start on the road to independence 
till "a more convenient season." 

It is not necessary for the average man in this country to give up any real neces- 
sity and very few comforts in order to get a competence. 

What have you to show for the hard work you have been doing all these years? 
If you have a home of your own, if you have a little farm or an orchard, if you 
have money in the bank — this does not apply to you. 

We encourage your thrift by providing you with an absolutely safe place for 
your savings and by paying you — per cent, compound interest on them. 

Have you learned yet what is your ability to do without? It will pay you well 
to learn this. 

There is no reason, aside from physical disability, why you cannot acquire at 
least enough wealth to make it possible to spend the declining years of life in 
comfort and without worry or anxiety concerning the necessities of life. 

A little self-denial is not a bad thing for the character or the bank account. 

Thrift means more than most persons realize. A thrifty person is economical, 
not alone of his money, but of his strength, his health, his energy and his mental 
powers. 

To thousands of persons their small savings gave them their first opportunity to 
apply their abilities in a productive field, and the lessons learned from first sav- 
ings enabled them to stop waste and leaks, making every dollar work. 

Waste not, want not. Do you know of any truer proverb than that? We 
do not. We have seen it illustrated in the experience of many persons and busi- 
ness concerns, haven't you? 

If you have no savings account, see to it that you have this cause for thanks- 
giving next year. Now is the time to plan for it. 

Is your money safe from yourself? That is rather an unusual question, but if 
you stop to think about it you will see that it is not an unreasonable one. 



176 MacGRBGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 



L 



making A Start In Brmqincr 
Doum the Cost of Lurinq J 

'TDany theories have been advanced as remedies for 

the economic problems facing this country today. These theories 

cover much ground— make much ado—uel inuariablu, thevj lead lo the same basic 
conclusion that Ihe solulion is in increased production and decreased consumption. 
IDith foreign nations actually requiring large quantities of merchan- 
dise and ram materials of euenj description, the domestic supplg is nahirallg limited— 

Ihe demand as great as euer— and price consequent high. Since n>e must help supplg Europe's necessities 
until het nations produce, the onlii solution of our high cost o) lining problem is in increased production 
and decreased consumption. 

CThe Federal Reserve Board, the goueming financial body of this country, has tersely 

summarized oihat is necessarq in the phrase "UJork and Saoe". Brieflg ©hat ate must do is: 

Work — Save — 



i eflort apphed to the f 



n end child ihouidstop spending money /or 



Cfhe most practical men in the country have reached the conclusion 

that human effort to produce more and to saue more is the only solution to this per- 
plexing problem. It is based on fundamental facts and economic Un?s. 

QTie results of your efforts to reduce the cost of liuing should be 

noticeable The money you do not spend should be placed in the bank, so you urill 
haue something definite lo shou> for qour efforts Start today — and remember thai a full daq's wort and the 
spending of no more money than is necessanj. is the successful application of the "uVork and Sape" idea. 

National 
Bauakof femtadk^ 

Temporary Location 

Fifth and Main St y^^^/^s^ ov^ $5,000,000.00 



A "work and save" appeal 

Other things being equal, the more money you have in the savings bank the 
merrier your Christmas will be. 

The man who has money ahead and has learned that by keeping a bank account 
he can make his money work for him is free from worry for the present and 
anxiety for the future. 

You might as well enjoy the earning power of money yourself. Why not do so? 
The sure and safe road to financial success is through a bank account. 

In every community there is a "Down and Out" club. Its membership consists 
of broken down and disappointed persons, who have made a failure of their lives 
from a financial standpoint. 



The opinion of famous men is not needed to convince you of the value of thrift. 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 177 

Just look around you. There are right in this community many living examples 
of the benefits of industry and thrift. 

The time to build up a reserve, a safeguard for the future, is now, when you are 
strong and able to work and sacrifice. 

You don't know about the future, but you do know that now, today, you are able 
to earn and save. Make the most of your present opportunity and prepare your- 
self for greater ones later on. 

When you buy anything on instalments you pay interest in the shape of higher 
prices. Save in our bank and let us pay you compound interest. Soon you will 
be in a position to buy for cash at low prices. 

A business man says: "I know from experience that it is hard to save. The 
best way to do it is to keep a written account of your income and expenditures." 

The first hundred dollars you accumulate represents a lot of hard work and self- 
sacrifice. The second hundred will be easier to get together. 

At forty, men begin to ask themselves about the degree of success they are at- 
taining in life. By that time they have lost many of the illusions of youth 
and have learned pretty well how to gauge their own ability and resources. 

If you always spend less than you earn, you will always be ahead of the game. 

With a savings account in a strong bank like this you knoio just where your 
money is and what it is earning for you all the time. 

There is a great satisfaction in watching a savings account grow by new de- 
posits and interest. 

The devil of debt seems to be on the heels of a great many persons nowadays on 
account of the many seductive temptations there are to live beyond one's means. 

Saving provides you with actual cash in hand; it enables you to get the materials 
of success and the assistance of books, teachers and the experience of others; it 
develops prudence, persistence, courage and other qualities necessary for success. 

Consider seriously the earning power of money. Whenever you spend money fool- 
ishly you are not only losing this actual cash in hand, but also the interest that 
this money might earn for you as long as you live. 

How much money have you saved up ? How much can you save in the next year ? 
It does a man good to look the situation squarely in the face once in a while 
and see how he is coming out financially. 

We have your interests sincerely at heart when we advise you to save a good por- 
tion of your income and become a regular savings depositor. 

Cultivate a five-year vision, because what your position will be five years hence 
depends to a large extent upon how you take advantage of present opportunities 
and prepare yourself for future ones. 

The more a man works the more essential it is for him to save, if he is to get 
the real good from his labor. 



178 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

As to your business, financial and social position, in five years where do you 
want to be? 

Your earnings get in the bank whether you put them there or not. If you are 
not thrifty yourself, eventually some man who is thrifty will get your money and 
he will put it into the bank to work for him. 

Your family and its needs probably occupy a good share of your waking thoughts. 
If you are wise you are thinking of future as well as present necessities. 

Having money in the bank will help you even if you do not use it for a great 
many years. The moral and mental influence of having something laid by that 
you could use if you had to will mean a great deal to you. 

How many thoughtless and extravagant persons there are who do not see the 
wisdom of providing in time of prosperity for a possible time of adversity! 

We have seen such wonders wrought by systematic saving that we sincerely be- 
lieve that you are making a great mistake if you are not making some such plan 
a part of your life. 

The old proverb, "If wishes were horses, beggars might ride," is a rather pessi- 
mistic one. It is all right to wish for things provided you go a step further and 
will to get them. 

The man who really desires anything enough to sacrifice present* comfort and 
pleasure for it is quite likely to get it. 

When in doubt, do without. 

There is no greater steadying influence for young men than a growing account 
in some good bank. 

Begin to-day and soon you will not only have saved money and added that 
strength of character which self-denial always brings, but you will have estab- 
lished friendly relations with an institution that can be of the greatest value to 
you. 

To have a money surplus — capital in reserve — is simply throwing an anchor to 
windward. It will prevent your drifting on to the rocks of dependence and want. 

If a young man ever expects to succeed in business he must be economical. No 
matter how small the sum the boy or young man is receiving, he should always 
save a portion of his income. 

The saved portion of your earnings is the seed of actual accomplishment and in- 
dependence. This is not theory — it is a practical fact which many learn from 
experience when it is too late. Don't wait. 

Take your pencil and paper and do a little calculating on income and outgo. 
And do not forget that interest on savings will add materially to your income. 

In a way we are performing a public duty by urging habits of thrift upon the 
part of citizens generally, as a thrifty community is a prosperous and happy 
one. 

Wiel you start today to save a portion of your income regularly or will you 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 179 

continue to procrastinate and postpone the start until a "more convenient sea- 
son?" 

John Wanamaker said: ''The difference between the clerk who spends all his 
salary and the clerk who saves part of it is the difference — in ten years — be- 
tween the owner of a business and the man out of a job." 

Do not forget that this reliable bank pays compound interest on savings ac- 
counts and you can easily deposit and withdraw money by mail. 

Saving money is practically indispensable for business success, not only in it- 
self and in the credit which it brings, but also for the good mental, moral and 
physical effects that habits of thrift have upon the individual himself. 

It is a mistaken idea that one must have a large amount of money to open an 
account — one dollar is enough. 

Optimism is an important factor in success. It has a bearing upon the subject 
of thrift, because both hoping and working enter very largely into the success 
attained by thrifty persons. 

At this time when many young people are turning their thoughts toward the 
subject of higher education, we want to impress upon their minds the importance 
of saving money for future use. 

If you want to get on in the world you must always be willing to sacrifice the 
present for the future. It is a good thing to have a goal to work for continually. 

The man who has money laid away in the bank is a most desirable employe. 
His mind is free from debts and money worries, and he is able to give his whole 
time and attention to pushing the business with which he is connected. 

Economy is not meanness; it is management. While this statement has been 
made in regard to government expenditures, it applies just as much to an in- 
dividual in the handling of his own finances. 

Going into debt is putting a mortgage on your income. It is discounting to- 
morrow's independence for to-day's good time. 

Insure your opportunities by means of a savings bank account. In this kind 
of insurance you are paid dividends instead of having to pay premiums. 

Did you ever stop to consider how compound interest makes money grow? It 
has been compared to a plant sending up a tiny new sprout every six months. 

Save money and get married. After you are married keep right on saving money. 
Your wife will help if she is a true helpmate. 

Persons who do not have the thrift instinct often misunderstand those who have 
it. Prudence in money matters is sometimes called stinginess. 

By industry and thrift you can gradually accumulate a cash surplus which will 
prove of timely assistance to you when a good business opportunity or money- 
making idea comes your way. 

The trouble with a good many people who don't succeed as well as they might is 
that thev have more "wishbone" than "backbone." 



180 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 




•■*••- 



Lincoln Said: 

"PROSPERITY IS 

1 the fruit of LABOR. 
That some men should 
be RICH, shows that 
others may become rich, 
and hence is just encour- 
agement to industry and 
enterprise. 



WT ET not him who 

■ L/ is houseless pull 
down the house of an- 
other — but, rather, let 
him work diligently and 
build one for himself, 
thus by example assur- 
ing that HIS OWN shall 
be safe from violence 
when built." 



"HTEACH ECONOMY! That 

is one of the first and highest 
virtues. It begins with saving money." 

Every Dollar at Interest Is One Dollar More Toward 

Independence! A Dollar W ill Start You on the Road. 

LET US SERVE YOU! 

Northern Savings Bank 

In Connection With the American National Bank 
Robert at Seventh St., ^§&te5\^l St. Paul, Minn. 



Quoting Lincoln as a text for a savings appeal 

One of the very best ways to be prepared for opportunities is to have money 
saved and put away in a good bank, where it is safe and always within easy 
reach when needed. 

The amount that you are able to save every week may appear very small, but in 
time systematic saving, with the aid of interest, will give you some substantial 
capital. 

Good ideas are worth nothing unless they are put to practical use. Success 
comes from thinking along practical lines and acting promptly when the proper 
opportunity presents itself. 

Dividends are paid by net earnings, not by gross revenues. 

No one will earn a home for you but yourself. YOU must earn the money and 
YOU must save the money. 

Thkift is an important element of character which has been present in the 
make-up of every man who has made a financial success of his life through his 
own efforts. 



When you have an account with a reliable institution like this your family grows 
up with the proper idea of accounts and an acquaintance with business methods. 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 181 

Keep your eye on the future. It is better to sacrifice a little now than to want 
later on when your earning capacity is not so great. 

Ex-President Taft said that the man who does not hope for better things and 
does not believe that better things can be brought about, is not the man' likely 
to bring better things about. 

Capital is a very important element of business success. Lack of it often means 
failure. You can create capital by saving — by funding part of your income. 

Fob the wage-earner who ought to have absolute safety for his savings and at the 
same time a fair interest return, there is nothing better than a savings account 
in this institution. 

How is it with you? Are you prepared for opportunities? Or, when they come 
to you, do you have to let them slip by to be seized by others? 

You will be more careful about your savings when you fully realize that they 
will take care of you if you keep on saving long enough and deposit your money 
in a good bank like this to earn compound interest. 

The best opportunity in the world will mean nothing to you if you are not pre- 
pared for it. 

We cannot impress upon employers too strongly the wisdom of encouraging their 
employes to economize, to save, to start a bank account. 

The question for you to answer is: "Am I saving as much as I can and ought 
to save?" 

No man ever accumulates a fortune unless he has the habit of making sacrifices 
today in order that he may have something to work with tomorrow. 

Andrew Carnegie, who started out a poor boy and died worth many million 
dollars after having given away many more millions, amply proved the value of 
thrift in his own case. He made it a test of success in life. 

We want to help you all we can in your efforts to get ahead financially — to create 
a tangible proof of your accomplishments in the shape of money saved. 

A bank account and the credit it gives you will be of the greatest aid to you in 
getting together the first few hundred dollars which you must get in order to 
advance speedily on the road to wealth. 

This bank wants to emphasize strongly that one of the surest ways of getting 
ahead is to form the habit of saving money systematically and depositing it 
regularly in a safe, interest-paying bank like this. 

It will pay you to learn that you can do without and still get along with the 
full respect of your neighbors and friends. 

The plan of saving a little, however small the salary, is a prime requisite for the 
highest success, as it means a self-restraint which prevents expensive and dis- 
sipating habits. 

There is an old maxim to the effect that if you spend your all, somebody else 
deposits your savings. Deposit them yourself. 



182 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

For their good as well as for our own advantage, we want to get the young 
people of this community interested in this subject of systematic saving. 

Successful people say that thrift is one of the virtues which lie at the root of 
human progress. 

The cases are rare where men who have contracted extravagant habits in early 
life come to large and permanent success. 

We do not advocate carrying the saving idea to the extreme. Put it on a higher 
plane and thus add a fascination to the idea which makes it worthy of the best 
efforts of any man or woman who is ambitious to get ahead. 

If at the end of the year the salaried man has nothing saved, his year has been 
a failure — he has made no "profits" on his business. 

If you haven't started to save yet, begin NOW. It will make a better man of 
you, a better husband and father, and a better citizen. 

It has been the experience of every one who has gotten ahead very far by his 
own efforts that hoping and planning and working go hand in hand. Plan to 
save and you can save. 

It makes little difference how able you are or how much money you earn if you 
live right up to your income. 

The man who cannot and will not save money cannot and will not do anything 
else worth while. 

Going into debt recklessly has been the ruination of many young men, and in 
these days of fierce competition, the ability to save is as necessary as the ability 
to read and write. 

Can you save $15 a month? The average man between 20 and 30 years of age 
ought to be able to do as well as that. 

The hardest part of saving is the start. While we are considering when to be- 
gin it is often too late to act. 

All over the country there are millions of people who, in January and July of 
each year, visit a savings bank and wait in line to have the interest figures en- 
tered in their pass books in red ink. 

Have you noticed that those who are able to take advantage of the opportunities 
that arises are those who have some ready money? Such opportunities come to 
you. Are you ready for them? 

One of our savings depositors said the other day: "The semi-annual dividend 
not only urges me on to save more money, but has taught me a lesson that ex- 
travagance is the root of poverty." 

For your sake as much as for our own, we respectfully suggest that you give 
serious consideration to this subject of saving now. We offer you good interest 
and absolute security for your savings. 

People do not lack strength, they lack will. This applies to the matter of sav- 
ing. If you want to learn the difference between wishing and working stop 
wishing for money and work harder to save some of it. 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 



183 



Any person in good health and of average ability ought to be able to save enough 
between the ages of twenty and fifty to enable him to live from then on without 
being dependent upon daily earnings for daily needs. 

The bureau drawer is not a secure place in which to deposit your savings. Your 
money there is not safe from loss by fire or theft, nor is it always safe from your- 
self. 

A savings bank account stands for purpose, decision, firmness, persistence, un- 
selfishness, prudence, forethought, courage, temperance, continence, ambition and 
achievement on the part of the one who maintains it. 

Getting the start is usually the hardest part of a business career. Ask any 



ffif*: 



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riotous spending 

has given most of us a wrong 
idea of values. We think 
nothing good that is not ex- 
pensive. 

We shall incline toward nor- 
mal prices only when we be- 
gin to spend wisely and for 
necessities. 

Be dollarwise. SAVE and 
deposit regularly. We invite 
your account. 



Union Trust Co. 

3S*, Rochester, N. Y. IT" 

Capital and Surplus over Sl.500.000 



'mi ininiurirriuiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiimi, -i 1 1 1 1 i-i i i=i : i iui i-i i_i 1 1 1 ■ 1 1 1 1 i_i i.i.u-i 1 1 t.i mi i i 

Putting the brakes on "riotous spending" 



successful man how he got his start and the chances are ten to one that he will 
say: "By regular saving." 

It is hard to realize what Macaulay called "the present value of a distant ad- 
vantage." This is seen in the way so many persons neglect to save money in days 
of prosperity to make provision for a future day of need. 

The man with a salary of $150 a month often can save more by keeping accounts 
than the man who has $200, but does not know how he spends it. 

The only way to have comfort in the future as far as material things are con- 
cerned, is to capitalize part of your income now by building up a reserve fund 
to work for you when you can no longer work for yourself. 

It takes grit, determination, backbone, to save money and get ahead financially. 
Now, who has these qualities in the greater degree, you or the other fellow? 



The actual amount of money accumulated and earning for you in a savings ac- 
count is a very valuable resource, but it does not exceed in value the lifelong 
benefit you will derive from the exercise of such qualities as are involved in the 
building up of the account. 



184 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

There is a way to provide against the rainy day. It is simple, but safe and 
sure. Save part of your income regularly now, and when you become old you 
will have at least the comforts, if not the luxuries, of life. 

Capitalize a portion of your present earnings and thus prepare for the time when 
in the natural course of events your earning capacity shall cease. 

Economy can be practised without a loss of self-respect or injury to the physical 
condition. 

Money isn't everything. It can't always buy health and happiness, but if by 
your present thrift you are able to get into comfortable circumstances and banish 
the worry of debt, will you not be doing something that will surely make for 
health and happiness ? 

If you plan for failure the chances are you will fail. On the other hand, one of 
the surest ways to win success is to think about it and plan for it. 

The difference between wanting and winning is the difference between wishing 
and working. 

Loose change spends itself. Money in the bank is safe and at work. You will 
think twice before spending money unwisely if you must first go to the bank with 
your passbook and draw it out. 

You have worked hard for your money. If you save some of it regularly it will 
work for you. 

To make spare money safe from yourself put it into the bank. It will be 
secure there and always handy to get when you really need it but not so easy 
to get at when the impulse comes to spend it foolishly. 

Poverty in old age is one of the most pitiful things in the world. It is hard to 
be poor at any time but it is especially distressing to have no resources in the 
evening of life. 

Saving money is one of the very first steps toward success. James J. Hill said 
that your answer to the question: "Are you able to save money?" determines 
whether or not you are destined to be a success or a failure in life. 

Most of us need to be forced in some way or other to do many things which would 
really be greatly to our advantage. 

Putting money away safely is insurance against adversity. No one should be 
without this protection. 

The officers of this old and strong institution have seen the enormous advantages 
of industry and thrift in a great many cases. They advise you to save money 
and put it into the bank. 

In this country we as a people are so prosperous that we don't think enough of 
the future. We enjoy the present fat years and forget that lean ones may 
come. 

Ready money is too easy to spend. It burns holes in the pocket of the man that 
has it. 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 185 

A savings account in a good reliable bank like this would be an ideal Christmas 
gift because it would be something of lifelong value to your child. 

Will you not make a personal application of this now by coming into the bank 
with your first deposit? Declare your independence today! 

A great many ambitious men have found that it is a good thing for them to have 
a regularly recurring financial obligation to meet. It forces them to do their 
best and makes them industrious and thrifty. Make a savings account your 
creditor. 

The feeling of independence and self-respect that comes to a man who has money 
in the bank is worth all the hard work and self-sacrifice involved in accumulating 
such a reserve fund. 

When in doubt as to whether or not you should make a certain expenditure the 
chances are that you ought not to make it. At any rate it is always better to 
err on the safe side in money matters. 

Even if there were no great practical advantages in having money laid by se- 
curely, it would still be thoroughly worth while to save it on account of the 
moral and mental benefits derived from the practice of economy. 

By saving we do not mean niggardliness. Money spent in beautifying the home, 
in educating the children, in pleasing the wife, is an investment in happiness and 
pays big dividends. 

It is manifestly an evidence of lack of good common sense for any young man 
to spend all of his income. 

Abe you saving part of your income and investing your surplus wisely? 

Dividends on savings are the rewards of thrift. Are you getting that kind of a 
reward? It is money you don't have to work for except as you work to save. 

It is easier to save when you feel that you must. Therefore, realizing this, if 
you are earning more than you need you will endeavor to give yourself a regular 
obligation to meet by choosing some object for which to save. 

The sound principles of thrift and getting ahead in the world have not changed 
since Franklin's time any more than human nature has. 

It is all right to earn more money if you can, but a good many persons have 
reached the limit of their earning capacity. However, practically everybody can 
save money. 

Just make up your mind that you owe your future so many dollars a month and 
make a savings bank account the custodian of the fund. Pay this debt to your- 
self regularly. 

Build up a reserve which will prove a comfort and strength to you when you 
may need for actual necessities the money which you are spending so thought- 
lessly today for non-essentials. 

One of the hardest things in the experience of persons of culture and refinement, 
but moderate means, is the struggle to "keep up appearances." 

It is much wiser to do without at least some of those luxuries you have come to 



186 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

think are necessities than it is to give way to the manifold temptations toward 
extravagance today and pay for it with tomorrow's sorrow. 

With money to fall back upon in an emergency you can prevent much needless 
worry and trouble. We know that a savings bank account is the best aid to 
systematic thrift. 

It takes some backbone, some genuine courage, to withstand the temptation to 
spend more money than you can really afford, but you'll feel better to keep out 
of debt. 

The average young woman who each day walks by this bank on her way to work 
little realizes how much the bank would mean to her if she would only take ad- 
vantage of its opportunities. 

Worry saps strength and nervous energy. It destroys working power and is an 
enemy to success. Perhaps the most frequent cause of worry is the lack of 
money. 

When you fail to get some of your money working for you in the bank you cheat 
yourself out of something that is rightfully coming to you. 

By net earnings is meant the cash on hand after all expenditures are made. 
There is one safe and sure way to earn dividends every year. It is to set aside 
every week a definite proportion of your income to form a reserve fund. 

No man is truly independent who has no other source of income than his daily 
wages or weekly salary because if for any reason that income is permanently, 
even temporarily, cut off, the man instantly becomes dependent. 

It is every man's duty to acquire as much money as he can honestly and without 
injury to himself or others. 

If you make $2,000 a year and don't save a cent, you are not paying any divi- 
dends, while if you are earning only $1,000 annually, but save $100 of it, you are 
earning 10 per cent, on your capital stock, which is your earning capacity. 

You can't own your own home unless you make a cash payment. And, if you are 
like the great majority of persons, you can't make such a payment unless you 
have been saving money regularly and systematically. 

Most opportunities call for ready cash or the good sense and energy which comes 
from acquiring ready cash by saving regularly from income. 

Learn how to do without some of the things which you think you must have now. 
It will benefit you both directly and indirectly as long as you live. It will 
strengthen you in respect to both character and material resources. 

You can earn more and save more too. In fact, our experience has been that the 
more a man saves the more he makes. 

Saving makes a man keener for opportunities and at the same time it provides 
him with cash to take advantage of them. 

Man is not self-denying by nature. Unlike the squirrel and the beaver, he has 
no instinct to provide out of present abundance for future needs. But experi- 
ence, observation, common sense, teach him to do. 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 187 

There are at the present time more ways of getting rid of a large amount of 
money than ever before, and there still remains but one way of saving money, 
which is, not to spend it. 

The mind has a great influence over the body. Saving makes you think success 
thoughts. It creates in you a desire to get ahead, and desire is the first step 
toward attainment. 

The value of thrift is one of the lessons that each generation must learn anew. 

Maintaining a savings account makes your surplus grow in two ways — you save 
more money than you would otherwise and your savings draw interest. 

Whatever your income is you ought to plan to save some of it for future require- 
ments. 

Poor Richard said: "Work hard," and he practised what he preached. He 
worked hard not only to build a fortune, but to build a character. A little self- 
denial now and then helped him to do both. 

Besides the actual amount of money you accumulate by systematic saving, you 
get very valuable mental effects. 

Work today for tomorrow's satisfaction, and not to make good on account of 
yesterday's extravagance — that is what you do when you maintain a savings ac- 
count. 

If you are prudent and industrious now, your reward will come later on when, 
as the result of your forethought and economy, you have money enough working 
for you so that you can "keep up appearances" without any struggle at all. 

The president of a large New York company, who began life as a newsboy in 
Columbus, Ohio, said: "If it were possible for me to double the income of all 
our employes, the good I could do in that way would be less than if I could im- 
bue them with an earnest desire and purpose to save and invest their money." 

If a man is not competent to manage a small income or a small business, he is 
not competent to manage a large income or a large business. 

The mission of the savings bank is to help people to save and prepare themselves 
for the emergencies and opportunities of life. 

Have you learned the desirability of having a little capital working for you 365 
days in the year, rain or shine, never getting tired, never going on a strike, but 
persistently and faithfully serving you, its owner? 

When a sum of money comes into your possession do you at once think of what 
it will buy or of what it will earn? 

Success is principally a matter of character. A man who is not willing to be 
economical at the start is foredoomed to failure. 

Many men starting out on their business careers have a wrong idea in their heads. 
Most successful businesses do not start big. A man must begin in a small way 
and deny himself. 

Do you think of money as something to spend or something to save? 



188 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 



Training His Children 

to Be Good 

Business Citizens 




O 



NE of our customers whose face we see regularly at the deposit window 
is a foreigner who has heen in this country only a few years. Yet 
he has built up an enviable interest account for himself, and has started 
one for each of his several children. He brings them in regularly to 
deposit the money which they have earned. 

This is the best business training which can be given to children. Are 

yours receiving it? We welcome such accounts. Start one now. You 

will be surprised to see how rapidly money accumulates when you 
deposit regularly. 

Utica Trust 
& Deposit Company 

Genesee, LaFayette and Seneca Streets 



Beginning with the children 

You will need a real determination to save if you ever expect to accomplish any- 
thing in that way and the first important thing is to realize the necessity for it. 
Then open a savings account here as soon as you can. 

No one can get much out of life who is hampered by a constant want of money. 
Worry about his hand-to-mouth financial condition takes a man's mind off his 
work and prevents him from getting the best results from his efforts. 

Extravagance beckons on every hand. The temptation to spend foolishly is 
ever present, so that everybody must choose between the straight and narrow 
path of industry and thrift that leads to financial independence and the broad one 
of extravagance that leads to the destruction of comfort and happiness. 

The excess of income over expenditure at the end of the year in the average man's 
experience has become exceedingly narrow. We cannot hope to widen it through 
any general falling in prices. It must be widened by increasing economies, by 
saving pennies. 

Entirely aside from your chances of making a fortune, saving part of your pres- 
ent earnings is a necessity if you would insure a comfortable and independent 
living at a later period in your life when your brain and your hands will not be 
so alert and strong as they are to-day. 

Trouble of one kind or another is sure to come to you sooner or later. The 
chances are that a good bank balance will be quite a solace to you then. Because 
with some cash in the bank you can face difficulties with a braver heart and a 
more peaceful mind. 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 189 

While your money in the bank will always be available when you need it, you 
will find it will not go so readily as when you have it in your pocket. 

A famous British merchant, who started out a poor boy himself, asserts that if it 
were possible to inject the quality of saving into every boy, we would have many 
more real men. 

When your boy becomes a man, will he have learned from you those all impor- 
tant lessons of thrift that have been at the root of almost every material success? 

Cut out your foolish and unnecessary expenditures and in addition save a definite 
part of your income month by month. It won't be long before you will have 
built up a worth-while bank account and it will be earning a good interest for 
you. 

If you are prudent enough to save money and maintain a savings account now, 
you will not need to worry when you grow older. 

Prevent the full force of misfortune falling upon you by gradually building up 
a reserve of cash resources through an interest-bearing bank account in this in- 
stitution. 

The days to come must be provided for. The whole idea of thrift and saving 
revolves around that great necessity. A man who does not realize it has no 
adequate conception of what life means. 

If you foresee the advantages that the possession of capital will give, and you 
want to get some of it together, you will have to pursue the object steadily, and 
undergo difficulties for a considerable length of time. 

Neither wage-earner nor capitalist can afford always to live close to the margin 
of his resources. 

As you prosper you ought to make provision for a time when you may not be 
as prosperous as you are to-day. Neither your good luck nor your earning 
capacity can last indefinitely. So by all means put money into the bank. 

Remembering that money in the bank at the end of the year is a good measure 
of your success in material things, make the coming year a better one by saving 
and depositing more money than you have ever done in a year before. 

The higher cost of living makes it increasingly important for everyone to save 
from income because, as the purchasing power of a dollar is so greatly reduced, 
$150 saved now is worth no more than $100 was a decade ago. 

If you have a mortgage to pay adopt the plan of making regular deposits in a 
savings account to take care of the payments. Thus the interest on your mort- 
gage will be partially paid for by interest on your savings and you will find it 
much easier to meet your payments when due. 

It takes two to make household economy a practical thing. It is not merely that 
the husband should save on cigars, lunch and so forth, while the wife is saving 
on meat, clothing, gas and other things, but in the larger sense there should be 
co-operation on the general plan of saving. 

If during your productive years you reguarly and systematically set aside a por- 
tion of your income and deposit it in a savings account, you need never fear for 



190 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

the safety and comfort of your old age. It will be secure because you prepared 
for it when you could. 

No one else can acquire the thrift habit for your benefit any more than another 
can eat or breathe for you. 

Once a person forms the habit of saving a portion of his income, the sav- 
ing of money becomes a mere matter of routine. It is easy for the man who has 
learned to save to lay aside a part of all the money that comes into his posses- 
sion. 

Just figure that you owe a savings account a certain part of your income every 
week or every month and keep this debt paid up. 

Your earning capacity will be less and eventually it will cease entirely. Are 
you so planning your efforts that when you can't earn any more your accumu- 
lated savings will take care of you and those dependent upon you? 

Savings depositors are "forward looking men," seeing beyond the present pleasure 
of spending to the future satisfaction and comfort of having. 

Modern business enterprises make strenuous efforts to eliminate as much waste 
as possible. It has been found that concentration on the utilization of wastes 
and the stopping of leaks is almost equally important with the development of 
new business. 

There is one kind of debt which is always justifiable and that is when you feel 
that you owe something to a savings account because that means that you are 
preparing for future opportunities and enjoyments, if not necessities. 

The unique point about money at work is that it is busy all the time and is a 
tireless worker, earning — per cent, compound interest day in day out, Sundays 
and holidays, year after year, as long as it is left in the bank. 

If big concerns find it wise to practise small economies the individual citizen can 
well follow their example. 

Nothing will happen in the way of success for most of us unless we try to make 
it happen. 

To be assured that one's own efforts will, without any doubt, provide for the 
future of one's self and one's family is a necessity if a full measure of content- 
ment is to be enjoyed. Without contentment no man is happy or really suc- 
cessful in his work. 

A man's old age depends upon his youth. In proportion as he saves his health 
and his money during the years of productiveness his old age will be successful 
and comfortable. 

The key to success is common sense self-denial. Get along without things until 
you can afford them. That is the wisest plan. It means only misery to have 
things before you can pay for them. 

The influence of systematic saving upon a man is that it makes him not only a 
better husband and father, but a better citizen as well. 

The safest thing for the average person to do is to keep his savings in a savings 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 191 

bank account where he can be sure that his money is safe and know just where 
it is and what it is doing all the time. 

The one sure way to have money is to save it, and the best way to save it is to 
get it out of your pocket and into a savings bank, being sure to choose a safe and 
dependable one like this, where your money will not only be safe, but earning — 
per cent, compound interest for you. 

Old age is not the only thing for which a man should save — there are opportuni- 
ties and emergencies in everyday life that he has to meet. 

Our depositors tell us of successful plans they have used to build up a surplus. 
We are, therefore, in a position to give you some good ideas along this line. 

Concentrate your mind and your efforts on the accumulation of a surplus from 
your earnings or income and there is no doubt about your succeeding. 

The first great principle of all successes, says Sir Thomas Lipton, is saving. It 
creates independence, it gives a young man standing, it fills him with vigor, it 
stimulates him with the proper energy. 

A savings bank book is a book of thrift. The entries of deposits therein repre- 
sent self sacrifice, foresight, temperance and industry in the past and present. 
They prophesy comfort, satisfaction and success for the future. The interest 
credits show the earning power of money. 

With a reserve fund to fall back upon, you can go on to greater success because 
your mind is free from worry. 

It is a very satisfactory thing to have something to fall back upon in case debts 
begin to heap up beyond the point where the income at the time can take care 
of them. 

Saving systematically creates funds and opens a sure and easy way to comfort, 
honor* and happiness. 

When it seems impossible to save money on what you think is your limited in- 
come, look at some of your friends with smaller incomes who save money regu- 
larly. Maybe then you will have the courage to try it for yourself. 

As a Christmas gift for a young person, nothing is more suitable than the nucleus 
of a savings account in a good bank like this one. 

Open a savings account in a good strong bank like this while you are young and 
your earning power is unimpaired. That is a genuine safeguard against a de- 
pendent old age — one of the most pathetic things in the world. 

Persons who have done well by their own efforts agree that when one has saved 
$1,000 from his income he has laid the foundation for a fortune. But you can't 
save the $1,000 until you have saved the hundreds, the tens, the fives and the 
ones. 

Saving money is not a matter of interest only to persons of average or small 
income. It is something that should and does concern everybody, for the reason 
that riches take wings sometimes, and when unexpected misfortunes come, money 
in a savings account is very handy to fall back upon. 

Start and maintain a savings bank account so that when things come your way 



192 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

you will be able to take advantage of them with the confidence born of the 
knowledge that you have funds in reserve. 

Make up your mind that you must and will save. If your income increases, let 
your savings increase. And do your saving through the bank, which will pro- 
tect and reward your thrift. 

It is getting along towards the end of the year. At the close of this year are 



JJkCONTINENTALW 

COMMERCIAL 

BANKS 



Dollars Earning 
Interest Work 
24 Hours a Day 

JULY I toJu!yi3are 
J Thrift Days. It is 

time to take inventory of 

your stock. If you have 

saved, remember that during 

tliis period interest is com- ~ "^S aF °t 1 » 

pounded. If you have not 

saved, it is time to begin. 



The Savings hiabit is a Good* Habit 
This Bank will help you cultivate it. 

Op*u S sm-d.ys from 9 ». m. (p 6 p. fn 

CONTWENTALwCOMMERCIAL 

Trust and Savings Bank 

LaSalle.Adams Ouincv and Wells Streets 



Cultivating the saving habit 

you going to be any better off than you were at the end of last year? If you 
have not got ahead so far, there is yet some time to redeem yourself. 

The value of a savings account does not consist entirely or chiefly in the amount 
of money actually accumulated. The habit of thrift which it creates is one of 
the most valuable features. 

A good many persons overlook the fact that when they spend a sum of money 
they give up the benefit of its earning power for life. If the expenditure is worth 
that, all right, but if it isn't you would do better to save the money and let it 
earn interest for you in a savings account. 



The best way to find a fortune is to follow the example of the great majority 
of those who have created fortunes by their own endeavors and save systemat- 
ically, deposit regularly and invest wisely. 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 193 

Save money with a worthy object in view and you will be twice blessed — there 
will be the actual wealth accumulated and likewise the joy of achievement. 

Maintain a savings account in a trustworthy bank. Your money will be pro- 
tected, and it will be earning for you at a rate which will give you an extra in- 
come from interest which will be entirely worth while. 

Stored up money will prove a powerful friend to you — one that you can depend 
upon if you build up your surplus fund in a good, strong bank like this. 

No one can afford to neglect making provision for the future, which may be a 
time of storm and stress. 

The trouble with many persons nowadays is that they think when things are 
going well that things always will be well and they forget the wisdom and impor- 
tance of saving. 

If you are prosperous now it behooves you to prepare for a possible time when 
you will not be so prosperous. 

One of the most important factors of any material success is the ability to save 
money because money makes money, and the more you have the more you can 
make. 

Husbands and fathers, it is your duty to provide for your wives and children — 
not only while you live, but you must also consider the possibility of your un- 
timely demise. Build up a fund in the savings bank to protect them. 

Systematic saving is the only kind that pays. Spasmodic thrift gets nowhere, 
because what is saved during your economical streaks is spent during your 
periods of extravagance. 

A savings bank account is an admirable device for strengthening an impulse 
toward thrift, provided you consider that you actually owe it so much every week 
or every month. 

You must make up your mind to do without some things now if you don't want 
to be without everything later on. 

Get the savings bank habit and it will give you a good excuse when you are 
tempted toward extravagance and don't want to yield to it. 

The thrifty man is the best" workman and all employers recognize the fact, 
as one of them has said: "We are always glad to find that an employe has a 
savings account, for then we know that there is a strong influence at work de- 
veloping his character and adding to his integrity of purpose." 

Practically all successful savers adopt some systematic plan of economy. They 
have found that this is the only way to make progress in saving. Haphazard 
methods get nowhere. 

Don't be satisfied with your present attainments in any worthy line — especially 
with your financial resources. Earn more, spend less, save more. 

There is no greater feeling of independence than that which comes from having 
a little lump sum of money snugly put away, be it ever so small. A sum that 
is kept in reserve, earning interest and only in very extreme instances to be drawn 
out. 



194 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

There is plenty of time for you to spend your money after you have earned it 
and "made good." Don't start now to spend all you earn and put a mortgage 
upon your future earnings in the shape of debts. 

You can have the comfortable feeling that there is something for you to fall 
back upon when you have saved money and deposited it securely in the bank. 

Success any time means hard work, but it becomes particularly hard to win 
success if the years of vigorous youth have been allowed to pass without a start 
having been made. 

Every man who works on a salary and spends all of it, whether he receives $1,000 
or $5,000, is not free and independent. 

There is a double interest in a savings bank account. First — Our interest pay- 
ments on your deposit. Second — Your interest in its growth. The first is — per 
cent, and the second will steadily increase as your account grows and the semi- 
annual dividend credits become larger. 

A savings account in this institution affords to everybody these three special 
advantages: Absolute security, liberal interest, training in thrift. 

Whether it is to get married, own your home, educate your children, start a 
business or provide for old age, you must have a definite object if you would 
save wisely and you cannot safely save without the aid of a good interest-paying 
bank. 

Success is the result of getting what you want. The way to get what you want 
is to make the best use of what you have. 

Do not forget that the dollar you spend for luxuries is gone forever and often 
draws other dollars after it. The dollar you pass over the teller's counter at this 
bank is saved and begins at once to earn another dollar. 

If you are not sufficiently master of yourself to curb your inclination to spend 
your income foolishly, you can never be independent of others. You always will 
be paying somebody rent, interest or tribute of some kind. 

Most persons who become rich through their own efforts get their start by sav- 
ing, and a savings account was their first introduction to the earning power of 
money. 

The best use to make of what you earn is certainly not to spend it all. Save 
part of it regularly and you will find that you will get ahead financially. 

This bank does not try to compete with the Commercial bank. It has a field 
of its own, although there are many customers of commercial banks who are 
also customers of the savings banks. 

A savings account can be started in this strong institution with as small a sum 
as one dollar. Give your boy or girl a start and an opportunity by opening a 
savings account here for him or her. 

The greatest joy is not. having things but in creating the possibility of having 
them. 

Genuine thrift is free from all suspicion of meanness or narrow-mindedness. It 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 195 

is an entirely praiseworthy thing. Nobody need be ashamed to practise it. In 
fact, you are more open to just criticism if you do not follow some regular plan 
of saving such as maintaining a savings bank account. 

Having a savings account puts a gentle pressure upon you through the feeling 
of pride in keeping up your account. This will make you save where otherwise 
you would waste. 

It is the unexpected that usually happens — especially in money matters. But 
there is one sure way to be prepared for unexpected misfortune. That is build 
up a bank account. 

As time passes on, do you find that you are making any progress in a financial 
way, or are you in the same old rut? In other words, have you a savings bank 
book in your name showing an increased balance with growing interest credits? 

This bank is here for the use and benefit of everybody in the community. We 
have accounts on our books of persons of means as well as wage earners. As a 
matter of fact no one can afford to neglect a savings bank account. We are 
anxious to serve a much larger number of depositors. 

One reason that there is so much want, failure, distress, and often ruin and 
disgrace, is because so many people never deny themselves, but live beyond 
their means to keep up appearances. 

When you once enjoy the sense of security that comes with a surplus fund set 
aside for future needs, you will be more than compensated for any hardships or 
self-sacrifices you have endured in accumulating it. 

Concentrate your mind on saving a fixed portion of your income and the results 
you will accomplish are sure to astonish you, especially if you make a savings 
account the custodian of your surplus and thus get compound interest working 
for you. 

Human nature is so constituted that every time a man increases his earning 
power, his desire to spend increases in the same proportion. That is the inclina- 
tion you will have to fight if you ever expect to make real progress in acquiring 
a competence. 

Care for your money and it will care for you. 

Too much show, simply living for today, making no provision for tomorrow — 
these and similar short-sighted views of life, are the curse of the times. 

Lay something aside now for the emergencies as well as the opportunities of the 
future. 

A savings bank account has been the foundation of many a fortune and it has 
developed a vast amount of business ability. 

The courage of self-denial is what is required to 1 save money in these times of 
high cost of living and constantly striving to keep up appearances. 

Open a savings account in a strong bank like this and make it a matter of duty 
to deposit here just as certainly as you meet your other regular obligations, 
such as rent or the grocer's and butcher's bills. 

You must save to get your start. Then if you have the character, brains and 



196 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

energy, there is practically no limit to what you can accomplish in this glorious 
country. 

The owner of a 200-year-old house in Xew Jersey lately found under the hearth 
of the fireplace a box of gold and silver coins, said to be worth $15,000. But 
99,999,999 people in the United States never have and never will find any such 
amount anywhere, but many could save it in a lifetime. 

If you once establish this habit of regular saving, you will never regret it and it 
will always prove a positive blessing to you and yours. 

The best protection against hardship in the future is a little self-denial in the 
present, and it ought to be practised in the home by mutual consent of those 
concerned. 

Countless successful savers begin by putting small sums into the bank regularly 
and see their resources grow, by larger deposits and the steady interest return, 
to the point where they have sufficient funds to make a permanent investment. 

Of all successes those which a man wins against heavy odds and by his own 
determined efforts are most worthy of emulation. 

The principal parts of prosperity are save, saving, saved. 

While learning their regular lessons, there is one lesson equally important which 
children ought to learn outside of school if not in it. It is the lesson of thrift. 
With the aid of the parents and the bank this important lesson can be early 
inculcated. 

iou might as well make up your mind that nothing will occur to make you rich 
unless you work industriously to make money and then save a goodly portion 
of your income to build up a fund for wise investment. 

Economy is one of the most essential elements of success, yet it is disregarded 
by many. 

Xot the least advantage of a savings account is the reflex influence it has upon 
the person who maintains it. Saving makes one think more of the value of 
money and of the opportunities that lie ready for the man who has capital at 
hand. 

Ix this matter of saving you must either take the advice of those who know or 
learn by your own bitter experience, that it does not pay to live right up to your 
income, spending every cent you earn regardless of that future which may not be 
such a time of prosperity for you as the present is. 

We believe that the reason most people do not acquire the saving habit is because 
they feel that the amount of money they can put away each month is so small 
that it would not amount to anything substantial during their lives. 

Hold on to some of your money and save it for a later day, save it as a prudent 
man ought to. It will make the future bright for you instead of gloomy. 

Ixteeest on money deposited on a savings bank account can be regarded as the 
wages that money earns. 

Leave an ample margin between your income and your expenses.. What you lose 
in immediate pleasure will be amply repaid in the sense of assurance and self- 
respect which go hand in hand with a good-sized bank account. 



SAVINGS ACCOUNT ADVERTISING 197 

Living on margin is diametrically opposed to the principle involved in "buying 
on margin." The former is wise conservatism; the latter is speculation. 

Entrench yourself against the assaults of such misfortunes as sickness, accident, 
loss of work, or business reverses, by laying by now, in a savings account, all the 
money you can possibly spare without neglecting any present obligation. 

Peace of mind is one of the rewards of thrift. The perfect freedom from worry 
which you will enjoy will be well worth any slight self-denial you may have to 
practise in building up your savings account in this bank. 

The knack of saving prevents the knock of adversity. The ability to save money 
is very much to be desired. Whether you have it or not determines your finan- 
cial future. 

A savings account at this bank has been a school of thrift and the foundation 
of business success for many people. 

The seed of success is not in the wasteful man. "I don't dare trust a man who 
is not economical," said the president of a big enterprise. "The one thing I 
insist upon in a responsible executive under me is that he shall spend my money 
as carefully as if it were his own." 

Talking points for a savings bank: Saving the first $100, withdrawals at any 
time; savings create capital — a reserve fund; convenient location; conservative 
management; perfect equipment; teach children saving; age of institution; 
officers interested in depositors' welfare; experienced officers; figures of institu- 
tion's growth; prompt and courteous service; large capital and surplus; conserva- 
tive loans — how secured; system in saving; examples of actual experience; 
"burglar insurance"; physical protection — massive vaults, time locks, electric 
alarm signals, bank always lighted; personnel of board of directors or trustees; 
in good times prepare for hard times; free booklets, home banks, calendar, etc; 
putting money to work; quoting prominent men; limit spending, not saving; 
insuring the future; the needs of dependents; open one evening in the week until 
8 o'clock; small accounts welcome; interest — the rate, frequency of compounding, 
method of computing, how it makes money grow. Importance of thrift: Moral 
value, becoming independent preparing for old age and the "rainy day," adding 
to self-respect, the foundation of success, the basis of credit, saving for a home, 
for an education, to be ready for opportunities, to invest in Government securities. 



CHAPTER V 
TRUST ADVERTISING 

THERE is more advertising of trusts now than ever before, 
both because trust companies to a greater extent are realizing 
its value and seeing their opportunities along that line, and 
also because the national banks, having been permitted to enter the 
trust company field, are quite generally establishing trust departments. 
The Trust Company Section of the American Bankers Association for 
some time has been conducting a campaign of education among its 
members on the subject of advertising and is putting into effect a plan 
for co-operative advertising of trust company functions. 

In this chapter are reproduced some typical advertisements of 
institutions of trust and of national bank trust departments which 
will well repay study on the part of those interested in the develop- 
ment of trust service by advertising. 

The various functions of trust institutions are of such a nature and 
variety that they can be promoted with certainty by the right kind of 
publicity. 

And competition is now so active that the trust company must 
advertise even as a means of self-preservation, to say nothing of 
pushing its business. 

Owing to the great variety of services that it has to offer the 
public, the trust company has a broad field to work in and a strong 
and vitally interesting advertising story to tell. 

Because of the nature of the services such institutions render, 
there is great need of the strongest kind of confidence-inspiring copy 
in their advertising. 

Trust companies are fiduciary institutions. They ask people to 
trust them not merely with large or small sums of money left on 
deposit and subject to check, but they also seek the confidence of 
the public in the most intimate relations of business life, in the care 
of estates and in carrying out the sacred provisions of the last will 
and testament. 

In short, the trust company solicits not only the grave responsi- 
bility of the custody of money not its own, but it offers in some 
cases to assume entire charge of the temporal affairs of dependents 

198 



TRUST ADVERTISING 



199 



21 PERSONS WERE KILLED 
IN THIS WRECK! 




How many of them had exercised the right to 
distribute their property as they desired? 
By making a will'you can exercise that right. Other- 
wise your property will be distributed according to 
law and those benefiting under the law may not 
be those whom you wish to receive your property. 
Take the first step to-day— Now! Call or write for 
our WILL booklet which will enable you to quickly 
gather the information which your attorney will re- 
quire to draw your will. 

Consultations regarding a plan for the economical 
and effective administration of your Estate are in- 
vited with: 



The Marine Trust Company 

of BUFFALO 

SIXTY-NINTH YEAR OF SERVICE 
CAPITAL AND SURPLUS 
FIFTEEN MILLION DOLLARS 



'Make a will' 



copy 






and others who cannot or do not care to look after their interests 
in person. 

It is no light thing this that the trust company takes upon itself 
and it cannot present too strong proof of its worthiness to undertake 
such responsibility. When, on account of disability, or for some other 
reason, a man finds it impossible to manage his important interests 
properly and thus protect those whose happiness depends upon the 
wisdom with which those interests are handled, he wants assurance 
amounting to certainty that the trust company offering its services for 
the work can be entrusted safely with the care of the property and that, 
moreover, his own wishes will be carried out conscientiously and 
prudently. 

It is a noticeable fact that in a very large majority of cases the 
most successful trust companies in different communities are those 
that do the most and the best advertising in their field. 



EXPLAINING THE SERVICES OFFERED 

Perhaps also the necessity for educational advertising is particu- 
larly apparent in the case of trust companies, because in some sections 
these institutions are comparatively new and their functions are not so 
well understood by the public generally as are those of the banks. 

A campaign of education along this line, conducted with intelli- 



200 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

gence and skill, ought to be very fruitful for any progressive trust 
company. 

Here is the way it can be done. Plan a complete series of news- 
paper advertisements, street car cards, and a "follow up" system 
consisting both of booklets and form letters. 

Don't try to tell your whole advertising story in one ad., or in 
one booklet. Tell it in small chapters, but keep it up regularly. Make 
each advertisement take up a new subject or treat an old topic in a 
new way. 

In your newspaper advertising try to keep the same position 
in the papers you use and maintain the same general style of typog- 
raphy, but CHANGE THE COPY and fill your space with strong, 
instructive, action-compelling text. 

ADVERTISING VOLUNTARY TRUSTS 

The First National Bank of Boston used the following material to 
advertise ' ' Voluntary Trusts ' ' : 

A VOLUNTARY TRUST 

is an agreement with this bank whereby money or property is at once conveyed 
to the bank to be held by it as your trustee, the income thereof to be distributed 
according to the terms of the trust agreement. 

ITS PURPOSE 

is to put into immediate operation the benefactions you have in mind for your 
family and others, thus removing all uncertainty as to their welfare. Provision, 
of course, may be made that part of the income shall be paid to you during 
your life. 

BENEFITS 

A trust created with this bank assures that 

1. The principal will be kept intact. 

2. Your interests will be guarded by a committee of prudent and successful 
business men. 

3. Your wishes will be carried out impartially. 

4. You and your family will have a sense of security otherwise impossible. 

5. You will have the opportunity to see the working of your benefactions during 
your life time. 

WHY YOU SHOULD CREATE A VOLUNTARY TRUST 

1. Your present estate may dwindle. 

2. What you can now set aside may be lost in unfortunate business deals. 

3. Delay may mean no permanent provision for dependent ones. 

4. Charges are nominal. 

THE SAFEKEEPING OF SECURITIES 

With one of its quarterly dividend checks the Guaranty Trust 
Company of New York sent a card reading : 



TRUST ADVERTISING 201 

CUSTODY OF SECURITIES 

Among the many services rendered, this company — 

Accepts the custody of securities against receipt. 

Collects and credits or remits proceeds of coupons and dividends, and the 
principal of matured investments. 

Renders periodical statements of securities held, when requested. 

Buys, sells and receives or delivers securities for clients upon order, and 
attends to the transfer of stocks and registered bonds. 

Prepares, and executes as agent, under power of attorney, all necessary 
declarations (certificates) of ownership required under the Federal Income Tax 
Law. 

Prepares for client's signature, return of annual income collected by it on 
securities deposited. 

Reports upon condition of investments when requested, and endeavors to 
inform concerning called bonds; conversion and subscription rights; dividends; 
reorganizations; sinking funds; subscriptions to new issues of stocks and bonds. 

This is a service rendered by most trust companies which is not 
advertised as much as it might be. Following; are some good points 
that could be brought out in advertising that service: 

Making investments and looking after investment securities is no small task 
even under the most favorable circumstances. 

If your property is extensive, if your other business interests or the state 
of your health do not permit you to take personal charge of all the detail work 
in connection with such matters, or if you are planning to be away from home 
for a long period and want to be relieved of the care of your property, you will 
find the 

SAEE-KEEPING SERVICE. 

of this trust company just what you need. 

This service includes the safeguarding of the actual bonds, mortgages, stock 
certificates, etc., in our vaults where they are not in danger of loss or destruction 
by fire, theft or carelessness. 

It includes also the handling of details in connection with each separate docu- 
ment or security — such work as collecting and crediting to your account, or 
remitting to you, the income and principal when they become due; carrying out 
your orders touching the purchase, sale or delivery of securities on your account; 
and making out declarations of ownership in accordance with the Federal Tax 
laws. 

On account of our exceptional facilities for obtaining information in regard 
to investments, we are not only in a position to give our clients sound advice along 
those lines, but we also strive to keep owners of securities informed as to called 
bonds; rights to subscribe to additional stock; extra, increased, reduced or passed 
dividends; receiverships; the appointment of protective and reorganization com- 
mittees; and any other matters coming to our attention which have a direct 
bearing upon the interests of those whose securities we are holding in our safe- 
keeping department. 

ADVANTAGES OF THE SERVICE 

While the actual physical protection of your securities in our keeping is just 
as great as if you kept them locked up in your safe deposit box, there is also the 
additional advantage of availability at all times even if you are absent or in- 
capacitated by illness. By mail or wire you can direct the sale of any of your 
securities or their withdrawal for use as collateral for a loan. 

The most approved methods are used to insure the genuineness of instruc- 
tions received touching the disposition of securities in our hands. 



202 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 



Business that Calls for 
Expert Knowledge 

THE settling of one estate often demands 
an intimate knowledge of several different 
kinds of business— a knowledge that no one 
person ia likely to have 

Our Board of Directors 
are men of wide and varied 
business experience and 
the benefit of this know- 
given to every 
estate that comet 




Boston Safe Deposit 
& Trust Company 

100 Franklin, at Arch and Devonshire Streets 



Why the trust company is qualified to administer estates 

Our safe-keeping service is equally advantageous to firms and corporations 
as to individuals, as it saves them the expense of providing a place sufficiently 
safe for the storage of securities and possibly also the expense of bonding em- 
ployees who might have the handling of the securities. By using our service a 
firm can have its investments as readily accessible to the proper officers as its 
cash on deposit in the bank. 

CHARGES FOE THE SERVICE 

The cost of the service rendered by our Safe-keeping Department can be stated 
only when we know about how much work to be called for in specific cases. 
Sometimes a flat charge of so much per annum is made; in others the charge 
is calculated of the securities left in our care. 

In any event, the charges are moderate and the service very valuable. You 
are invited to confer with us personally or write for more definite information 
concerning how we can relieve you of a great deal of work and worry, which i» 
unavoidable if you have the whole care of your own securities. 

THE TRUST COMPANY AS EXECUTOR 

Some time ago the "New England Pilot" contained this little 
article : 

You remember that the death of James Gordon Bennett, the wealthy owner 
of the New York "Herald," took place not very long ago. Here is a striking 
chain of incidents that followed: 

Mr. Bennett appointed his personal friend, James Stillman, an executor. 
Unfortunately, Mr. Stillman died before any progress had been made in settling 
the Bennett estate. 

But it was found that he had appointed John W. Sterling, the famous New 
York lawyer, an executor of his estate. Before Sterling could begin work, he 
died suddenly while fishing in Canada. 

Sterling appointed James 0. Bloss, the New York banker, executor of his 
estate. But within a few weeks the third death in the chain occurred. The 
estates of Bennett, Stillman and Sterling aggregated about $75,000,000. 

What a frightful illustration of how death topples over one rich man after 



TRUST ADVERTISING 203 

another — despite all their financial independence and the utmost that medical 
science could do for the prolongation of human life. 

In commenting on this, a publication of the Old Colony Trust 
Company, Boston, said : 

The long, interlocking complications that arise after a man's death, during 
which the families are left to shift as best they may, while the tedious grind of 
untangling his affairs drag's through the probate court, gives irresistible force 
to the argument for a trust company as your executor — an executor who never 
dies or is sick and is forever "on the job." The remedy for the possible incon- 
veniences, even hardships involved, is so simple, so easy and so direct that nothing 
can compete with it. If all this is true, how much greater is the value of this 
trust company service for moderate estates where delayed settlements may mean 
positive calamity to the heirs? 

PERSONAL SOLICITATION 

Occasionally the idea is encountered that in new business work 
for trust companies the solicitation ought not to be so vigorous in 
behalf of fiduciary services as for banking functions. But really 
there is no sound reason for this differentiation. How often should 
a trust department prospect be followed up? One New York trust 
company in a campaign on wills followed up at intervals of not more 
than a month. The methods of a good life insurance solicitor might 
be considered as a model. He follows up just enough not to make 
himself offensive, and at the same time loses no possible chance of 
getting business. 

ACTUAL EXAMPLES OF SERVICE 

There is great opportunity for human interest in trust company 
advertising. Delve into the archives of your trust department and 
find some actual instances of where your institution has been the in- 
strument through which the kindly intentions of benefactors were 
carried out. The results of that kind of research are to be seen in 
such newspaper advertisements as those of the Bankers' Trust Com- 
pany, New York, and of other institutions as shown in this chapter. 

A TRUST COMPANY BOOKLET 

The following booklet features one special point of trust company 
service : 

MANAGING YOUR PROPERTY 

Why It is Wise to Employ a Good Trust Company 

For the benefit of those who could advantageously use this institution's equip- 
ment for handling property, we propose to explain this feature of trust company 
service which is not as generally known and appreciated as it should be. 



204 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 



We Never Take 
A Vacation 

AS a trust company we are al- 
J^ ways on duty, and can help 
you enjoy your vacation^ by 
relieving you of all care in con- 
nection with your securities while 
you are away. Leave them here for 
safe-keeping. We will collect divi- 
dends and coupons, remitting to 
you or crediting to your account 
in exact accordance with your in- 
structions.. 




FULTON 

TRUST COMPANY 

OF NEW YORK 

Established 1890 

Member Federal Reserve System 

Singer Building 

149 Broadway 



Emphasizing the continuity of trust company service 

If you were asked to name the important factors entering into the successful 
handling of property interests, undoubtedly you would include the following: 



Honesty 

Ability 

Experience 



Organization 

Equipment 

Energy 



A corporation like the Trust Company possesses all of these ele- 
ments to a higher degree than any individual possibly can. 



IN UNION THERE IS STRENGTH 

The fact should be considered that in employing a trust company like this, 
you have the full benefit of the collective honesty, experience, training and ability 
of a group of men whose life work is the handling of just such matters as you 
may entrust to them. It is the constant business of this company to discharge 
all the responsibilities that arise in the handling of property. 

Every officer and director of the company is not only a help to every other 
one in the performance of his duties, but is likewise a check tending to prevent 
wilful or accidental departures from the path of strictest integrity. While it is 
possible for an individual to go wrong, it is inconceivable that an entire group of 
men should at one and the same time become recreant to their duty, especially 



TRUST ADVERTISING 205 

when each and every one of them, has for many years maintained an unblemished 
record in the community, as is the case with the officers and directors of the 
Trust Company. 

AN ORGANIZATION OF SPECIALISTS 

Then, as to the other factors making for the best results — ability, ex- 
perience, organization, equipment and energy — let us call your attention to these 
facts : 

We have in our organization men especially expert in the various branches 
of real estate and trust administration, and you, as a client of ours, have the 
benefit of the experience, not of one man, but of many. The officers and directors 
of this company are men who have made a success of their own business affairs. 
Their reputation for integity, ability and sound judgment is well known in this 
community, where they have been prominent in business circles for many years. 
We want to impress upon you the fact that this reputation for reliability has 
not been made only in their conduct of the affairs of this company and in caring 
for the interests of its customers, but in every particular of their own private 
and public lives. 

In employing this company to handle your property you are only doing 
as you would do in many other cases in your experience where you employ 
experts to perform services which you cannot so well perform yourself. You are 
just as sensible to employ the services of a -group of experts in the care of your 
real and personal property as you are in employing an architect to plan your 
house, a physician to give you medical advice, or a lawyer to look after your 
legal interests. 

Every important step is taken by us only after thorough consideration. 
An executive committee meets frequently to pass upon loans and consider other 
matters of importance. Moreover, we have the full benefit of expert legal talent. 
This counsel is available, without additional expense, to every estate or interest 
we handle — large or small. 

TAKING ADVANTAGE OF OPPORTUNITIES 

There are a great many occasions when expert knowledge and the ability 
to act promptly and decisively would mean a great saving to you. There are 
many cases where taking prompt advantage of opportunities by making cash 
advances at the right time would effect a large economy or an added profit. 

It is not only unfaithful or incompetent individual management that wastes 
property. A great many times losses are sustained because of inability to grasp 
opportunities or to use one dollar to save the expenditure of two. The wide 
experience of able and upright officers in the matter of investments, their 
familiarity with the law, their financial responsibility, the many opportunities 
that come to them, their sound counsel and advice, all these are of inestimable 
value to those whose interests are placed in the charge of this institution. 

Besides having brains, experience, integrity and financial responsibility fitting 
us for the performance of the work entrusted to us under the supervision of the 
State, this company uses the most up-to-date and scientific methods of accounting 
and the best available equipment for the quick and accurate handling of business. 
We consider our great safe deposit vault part of the equipment of our trust 
department, as it gives absolute safety to the perishable, but very valuable papers 
of those whose interests we look after. 

A trust company is free from all weaknesses and mistakes which are fre- 
quently to be found in an individual. Undertaking the handling of property, a 
trust company does not resign, become physically incapacitated or die. It never 
takes a vacation, it is always ready for business, it never disobeys orders, it 
considers the affairs of its clients confidential, it can never use trust funds to 
bridge over reverses of its own. 

This company is absolutely impartial, uninfluenced by any personal consid- 



206 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

erations. Its fixed purpose is to serve the best interests of its clients and to 
comply with the legal safeguards which are thrown around its operations. The 
fees which it charges are fixed by law on an equitable basis, and are no greater 
than an individual trustee would charge for performing similar duties in a much 
less efficient manner. 

The Trust Company is authorized to rent and manage property, 

collect incomes, interest, dividends, mortgages and notes, and to pay taxes and 
insurance. In short, in regard to any property, we can do anything you yourself 
can do. 

We are also authorized, under careful legal restrictions, to act as trustee 
under life insurance policies, to invest the money and pay the income to the 
wife or child until any specified time — for example, until the child's coming of 
age or the marriage of the widow, at which time we pay the principal also, 
as directed in the will. 

LEGAL RESTRICTIONS AND FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 

All trust funds and accounts are kept strictly separate from the company's 
own funds and are paid out only on vouchers signed by two authorized persons. 

If, on account of disabiltiy. advancing years, absence from home, or for any 
other reason, you find it impossible to manage your important interests properly 
and thus protect those whose happiness depends upon the wisdom with which 
those interests are handled, consider earnestly the advisability of employing this 
strong, State-protected institution to manage your property. 

This may be the wiser plan even if you are still in a position to give your 
whole time and energy to the care of your own interests. 

LET US CO-OPER.VTE WITH YOU 

The Trust Company can co-operate with you in the handling of 

your property so safely and efficiently that it will relieve you of a great deal of 
anxiety and hard work, and at the same time prevent losses and put you in 
the way of additional profits at a cost to you probably less than the increased 
returns which would accrue in case you let us share with you the responsibility 
of looking after your property interests. 

Necessarily, this is only a brief outline of what our facilities and services 
are. If you are at all interested in this subject, the officers of the company will 
be very glad to correspond with you or to meet you personally either at our offices 
or at your own convenience to explain our managing or "safe-keeping" service 
under trust agreement. 

Call or write. It will cost you nothing to consult us, but we may be able 
to work out something very much to your advantage. 

PARAGRAPHS FOR TRUST ADVERTISING 

Your life-long ambitions for the financial future of your dependents may be 
realized by establishing the right kind of trusts for their benefit. Our Trust 
Officer may be able to help you. 

An individual in handling a trust, no matter how honorable his intentions, is 
subject to many influences which may lead to a speculative use of the funds in 
his charge. 

The trust company is impersonal and can have no interest to serve other than 
the safe handling of the funds entrusted to it. 

The business of a trust company is conducted by officers who are carefully 
selected, and are under bond for the faithful performance of their duties. 



TRUST ADVERTISING 



207 




PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII1IIIIIIIIIIIW 



To the needy of 

France, first — 

to his heirs, 

afterward 

Have you a favorite 
charity ? 

A wealthy American who 
had long been an admirer 
and friend of France died 
some time after the out- 
break of the war. To his 
will, which had been 
made long before, he add- 
ed a codicil placing funds 
in trust with this Com- 
pany, for the benefit of 
certain non-combatant 
victims of the war. The 
income is payable to them 
as long as they live, and at 
their death the principal 
reverts to his own heirs. 

You can establish trusts 
with this Company for 
charitable purposes or for 
your own heirs, bv having 
yourlawyermakea simple 
codicil to your will. Ask 
for "The First Step in 
Making Your Will." 



^lllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllillllllllllllllllllllilllllilllllllilllllllllllllillllllllllllllliF 



Bankers Trust Company 

Member Federal Reserve System 
Downtown Office: Astor Trust Office: 

16 Wall Street 5th Avenue at 42nd Street 

Trusts for charitable purposes 



208 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

This company and its customers have the benefit of the collective or combined 
honesty of a group of men whose individual integrity has been proved. 

The management of this company, through a board of directors, provides a 
safeguard in that the various members of that board are not only a . help to 
each other and the company, but they act as a check to any temptation to care- 
lessness or worse. 

A veky serious objection to the employment of an individual as executor or 
administrator is that a man who at one time may be thoroughly responsible 
financially, at another may be entirely without resources or responsibility. 

This company has as a guarantee of its responsibility the personnel of its 
officers and directors, who are men of integrity, ability, experience and financial 
responsibility, and also its large capital and surplus. 

In most cases, an individual chosen as an executor has had no previous experi- 
ence in the administration of estates. A loss due to such inexperience is just as 
real as though due to dishonesty. 

This trust company is experienced in the handling of the many questions which 
arise in the administration of estates, and every beneficiary under a will, in 
which this company is named as executor, secures the benefit of this experience. 

This Company does more than merely hold real estate belonging to the estates 
in its charge. Our real estate officer investigates it carefully at frequent inter- 
vals, makes repairs and improvements when necessary, and sells property if it is 
deemed advisable. 

To give your heirs adequate protection you should not only make a will, but 
you should also insure that they will get the benefit of what you leave them. 
This can be done by putting the property in trust instead of giving it outright. 

The various branches of the work we are called upon to do are in the hands of 
men who are specialists and experts in those lines. 

The same reasons which lead a man to employ a lawyer, a physician or an 
architect, when he has need of the special services which these men give, should 
impel him to turn to an efficient trust company in all matters of a fiduciary 
nature. 

Every man must die, and the death or the disability of an individual executor 
may occur at a time most prejudicial to the interests of the estate in his charge. 

WJe are constantly building up an organization and a personnel which will carry 
on the work of the company and look after the interests of its customers, no 
matter what happens to any individual member of the company. 

When you choose a corporate trustee or executor like this company, you need 
never worry about the careful carrying out of your wishes concerning the han- 
dling of your property now or hereafter. 

The trust company is an indispensable factor in modern business and finance. 

As a bank, this company can receive deposits in checking and savings accounts; 
buy and sell exchange; issue certificates of deposit; loan money on good security; 
buy and sell bonds, stocks, negotiable paper and other securities; and give advice 
on all matters of business and finance. 



TRUST ADVERTISING 209 

As agent, we can invest money for our customers; manage their real and per- 
sonal property; collect taxes and other obligations; manage estates — collecting 
rents, insuring property, drawing deeds and making contracts; look after invest 
ments — collecting dividends, coupons, notes or other obligations. 

The banking service rendered by this institution is high class, because our 
strength is unquestioned, our equipment is adequate, our location is convenient, 
our staff is able, experienced, courteous and trustworthy. 

If you desire to make provision for any member of your family, or any other 
person after your death, a life insurance policy payable to this company as trustee, 
together with instructions as to the disbursement of funds, will take care of the 
matter automatically. 

You can insure fair weather for yourself and those dependent on you by putting 
funds in trust noiv, with the income payable to you or to them. And if you wish, 
you can keep adding to the principal amount, thus increasing the income 

A person solely dependent upon a fixed income, especially if it is of only moder- 
ate amount, is in a rather uncomfortable position while prices continue high. 
Therefore it seems especially important now that estates should be handled with 
the utmost efficiency in order to secure for beneficiaries a satisfactory income 
with safety. This is the kind of service which our Trust Department is equipped 
to give to estates placed in its care. 

As trustee or guardian, we can receive money in trust; act as guardian of the 
estate of a minor or incompetent person. All our business is handled in a strictly 
confidential manner. 

As executor or administrator, we faithfully carry out the provisions of wills, 
acting alone or as joint executor; write wills and preserve them in our vaults 
till called for. 

The requirements of the ideal executor and administrator are honesty, responsi- 
bility, capability and permanence. The company possesses all of these in a high 
degree. 

We will undertake to collect life insurance and apply the proceeds in accordance 
with such trust agreement as may be made. In this way you secure the dis- 
bursement of your life insurance without the publicity inevitable when your de- 
sires are expressed fully in the provisions of a will. 

This company is authorized and makes a business of serving as administrator 
or executor, consequently its ability in such lines is greater than that of the 
individual who, as a rule, does it only once. 

When you employ this company in any capacity of trust, you have the benefit 
of the collective honesty, ability and experience of the officers and directors of 
the institution. 

If you have money awaiting permanent investment, a good plan is to deposit it 
with this institution and obtain an interest-bearing certificate of deposit. It is a 
safe, convenient and profitable method. 

The safe and efficient trusteeship which this company gives costs you no more 
than similar services rendered by an individual, while the advantages of the 
corporate over the individual trustee are manifold. 



210 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

The most competent individual has only his own experience and knowledge to 
qualify him. This company has large financial resources, the combined ability 
of experts and specialists, corporate integrity and composite judgment, unbiased 
by family or other influences. 

This company takes sufficient time to perform its work well, it neglects none of 
its duties and it lives to execute the longest trust. 

Why allow yourself to be annoyed with the many details of looking after your 
securities when — at a very low charge — we can relieve you from all the re- 
sponsibility ? Our service includes : Holding the securities in our own vaults ; de- 




To Provide Financial 
Security for Your Heirs 



now partially or wholly. dependent 
permanent f 

■ Tnut Fund e 
lulled by Will. 

The care ofTrowaii 

of die Brooklyn Trait Company perfected 

by the experience of more than 6fty yean. 

Our Trmt Officer aoill be glut to fell joo 



Brooklyn Trust Company 



Security for heirs 

taching and collecting coupons and receiving dividend checks; collecting principal 
at maturity and re-investing it if desired; making out tax certificates; advising 
our customers of news regarding the value of investments, such as stock rights 
and called bonds. 



There is no need to subject an estate to the severe drain upon its resources 
inevitable when heirs go to law. If the will is legally and clearly drawn, and a 
competent executor is appointed, there need be no trouble. 

Preserve the integrity of your estate by putting it into the hands of this 
institution which has these factors of dependability: — -Assured existence, col- 
lective experience, state supervision, and large financial responsibility. 

A trust company as executor means absolute protection for those you wish to 
protect and against any who might take advantage of them. 

It is wise to employ expert service in connection with the making and executing 
of your will. It often means the material enhancement of an estate while in 
process of settlement, instead of its partial or total dissipation. 

Make your will now. If you put it off till too late, the estate probably will not 
be divided just as you would like to have it done, 



TRUST ADVERTISING 211 

If you wish your wife to own any real estate at all, you must make a will. 
Otherwise she will have only the use of, or income from, one-third of the real 
estate you own. 

The opportunities of a trust company for genuinely helpful service to its patrons 
are many. May we not have the privilege of explaining them to you? 

We desire to come into confidential relations with our customers. We gladly 
give depositors the benefit of our business knowledge and experience — especially 
in the matter of investments. 

This company is organized under laws enacted especially to protect it and any 
business, estate or funds entrusted to it. 

Every modern equipment, convenience and system for facilitating the business of 
the company and its customers is in use here, thus avoiding losses and delays. 

This institution is a depository for others acting as executors, administrators, 
guardians, etc., and for court funds. As a safe, convenient and profitable method 
of caring for such trust funds, we recommend our interest-bearing certificates of 
deposit. 

A "living" or "voluntary" trust is made by placing money, securities, or other 
property in the care of a trust company under a trust agreement. This trust 
agreement can be terminated when you wish, or it can be made irrevocable. 
The income can be paid to yourself or to others. In fact you can make almost 
any arrangement for the payment of interest or principal. 

An efficient staff of expert employes at this bank meets the banking requirements 
of its customers and keeps the records of the institution. 

The success of this institution is due largely to its facilities for giving good 
advice on money, real estate, investments and the many things involved in the 
handling of such matters. 

The business of this company is under the close supervision of our Board of 
Directors, which meets every week, and an executive committee, which meets 
several times a week. These men pass on all loans made and consider all matters 
of importance in connection with the institution and the trusts in its charge. 

We act as trustee for individuals, investing their money for them and paying to 
them whatever income is derived from it, less a small commission for our service. 

Individuals die. They become sick or infirm. They go away. When you put a 
trust matter in our hands you put it where it is beyond the possibility of inter- 
ference from such causes. 

Set your house in order by putting everything into the hands of a great, imper- 
sonal, incorruptible and thoroughly efficient and dependable institution like this. 

Using our certificate of deposit plan, you get all the security afforded by the 
large resources, careful management and strict supervision of this institution, 
and at the same time receive liberal interest on the money deposited. 

We are examined at least once a year by the State Banking authorities, to whom 
we make five reports annually. Moreover, the company's, books are examined 
twice a year by a committee of our stockholders, who employ expert accountants 
to assist them. 



212 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

Our certificates of deposit possess all the advantages of the highest grade bonds, 
and many more. They are not subject to fluctuations in value. 

Make us your agent now and your executor under will so that the trustee work 
of your family may be kept in the same hands from one generation to another. 
The thorough knowledge of conditions which comes from intimate connection 
with certain interests over a long period of years is of inestimable value to an 
estate. 

Those persons whose interests a trust company serves are not only those who 
have accumulated large fortunes and left great estates. A trust company like 
this is just as active in the interests of the man of moderate wealth. We con- 
sider it equally important that his property be cared for to yield the highest 
possible income and that his estate be carefully safeguarded for the benefit of 
his family. 

The trust company plan is the only sensible and businesslike way to take care 
of the all-important matter of the handling of your estate after the inevitable 
takes place. 

In probate business of all kinds this company is accountable to the court for the 
faithful performance of its duties, and must render complete statements which 
become part of the public records. 

The trust company would be regarded as a public benefactor if people generally 
had a clear understanding of its work. 

Our methods of caring for estates and the economies we effect in their manage- 
ment entitle us to the consideration of every thoughtful man and women in the 
community when it comes to carrying out matters of trust. 

You can depend absolutely on the service of this institution which is strong 
financially, and is free from all the drawbacks and limitations of a single indi- 
vidual endeavoring to perform the same service. 

The trust funds of this institution must be kept separate from all other funds 
in our custody, and the accounts are audited several times each year by the 
State Banking Department, while the accounts of an individual executor, trustee 
or guardian are audited only on final settlement. 

The final test of efficiency is results. Therefore, the most competent executor 
is the one who best serves and conserves the interests placed in his charge. 
Emphatically the trust company gives the best service in this respect. 

The cost of employing this impartial and disinterested trust company — the most 
competent executor — is no more than for an individual acting in that capacity. 

If there is anything connected with the care of property, investing your money 
or the making of a will which is bothering you, come in and consult us or write 
us about it. Our business is to help people in such matters. 

Those who rest with an easy mind and arise in the morning with the confidence 
of an assured position are those who have made proper provision for their own 
as well as their family's future. Dismiss this vital obligation in the shortest, 
most satisfactory "and safest way by consulting your lawyer and us regarding the 
proper making and execution of your will — in which our experience and organiza- 
tion well qualify us to assist you. 



TRUST ADVERTISING 



213 



There are many things this company can do more promptly, with greater skill 
and with less expense, than is usual with individuals acting in the same capacity. 

Many men leave their financial affairs in disorder when they die without having 
made a will. Their property is at once involved, and the aid of the courts is 
often necessary to straighten matters out. Have you made your will? 

Risks attendant upon individual fallibility are minimized or eliminated by cor- 
porate strength. 

In dealing with this company you are not depending on the knowledge of an 
individual, but upon the combined wisdom' of a board of directors of ample ex- 
perience. 



Your Wife's Welfare 



^ — •'OCTR wife is a good, capable 
t I. but unless she is very much different 
^^y from the average woman she is as defi- 
cient in the money-making instinct as you are in 
housekeeping ability. 

IVhen you have passed on and left her amply pro- 
vided for with insurance and the fruits of your 
forethought, don't let her suffer from your lack of 
foresight 

By putting your estate in trust, you save her 
peace of mind and absolutely protect her from 
possible financial disaster. 
The expense of your foresight la so slight com- 
pared with the benefits secured aa to be almost 
negligible. 



TheUnionTrustCo. 



.^ 



J3b.OO0.O0O 



Providing for a wife 

We seek an opportunity to explain fully to all who are in possible need of our 
services our qualifications for the handling of every matter of trust. 

This company has at its command for the benefit of its customers a great deal 
of expert knowledge — not just information, but knowledge, which is more exact 
and systematic. 

Estates are sometimes frittered away because of unfaithful or incompetent 
INDIVIDUAL management. 

Do you appreciate honest, energetic and sane business methods and would you 
like the co-operation in the handling of any matter of trust of an organization 
with such ideals, ability and sound backing as ours? 

In the routine details of the company's work the utmost accuracy and the most 
systematic and up-to-date methods are used. 

The trust company has come to be a necessity of modern business. This com- 
pany is filling a place of constantly increasing importance in the commercial 
affairs of this city. 



We invite the fullest investigation of our methods and would like to tell you 
of actual benefits that have accrued to estates we have handled and trusts we 
have executed. 



214 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

The indifference of the average individual administrator to the requirements in 
regard to reports, appraisements and such details often results in trouble and 
actual loss of money to the estate. 

A young woman owning considerable property, real estate, mortgages and ground 
rents, was to marry a man from a distant State. Shortly before her marriage 
she put her local property into this trust company's care under a ^'living trust" 
agreement. For some years we have thus entirely relieved her of every detail 
in connection with its management. 

We are under strict and constant supervision not only on the part of the State 
banking authorities but also by the directors of the institution themselves. 

This company is careful. It exercises caution, foresight and good judgment in 
all of the various departments of its business. 

All the many safeguards thrown around financial institutions would amount to 
little if the men behind these institutions were not absolutely trustworthy in 
every respect. 

We seek the opportunity to show you how we can help you in your business. 

We are prompt to seize opportunities for the benefit of our customers. We 
prevent unnecessary expenditures, but at the same time are not narrow or unpro- 
gressive. 

In the handling of trusts we act exactly as if the matter were our own private 
business, only more carefully, if anything. 

The carefulness manifested in every branch of our business is a pledge of the 
carefulness we would use in the transaction of any business you might place in 
our charge. 

The trust company's field of operation is broad and it appeals very strongly to 
that large part of the public whose needs are not met by other institutions. 

An estate may consist of equities or of mortgaged property which may need the 
outlay of considerable sums to preserve it or to prevent the sacrifice of the assets 
by sale in a declining market. That is where a trust company as executor is 
better able to cope with the situation. 

With your surplus money invested in our certificates of deposit, you have the 
absolute guarantee of a fixed return on your money and you are freed from all 
worry which is incident to more speculative forms of investment. 

Unless he be a man of commanding business capacity and unusual fidelity to 
his trust, no individual can equal the efficiency of a corporate trustee or admin- 
istrator. 

Our judgment is the combined judgment of a number of upright, able and sound- 
minded business men. 

This companj^ has had long experience in making trust investments and we are 
in intimate touch with the investment market and constantly watch every invest- 
ment which we hold. 

The honesty of the officers, directors and employes of this company is more than 
on-the-surface. It is the result of inherent character and principle, extending 



TRUST ADVERTISING 215 

through every feature of our business and in things beyond the legal require- 
ments. 

We invite careful inspection of the personnel of this institution. These men 
stand on their record of character and achievement in the business life of this 
community. 

Ask for full information about the work of this company as executor, adminis- 
trator, guardian, trustee, etc., and how we can safely invest money for you or 
handle any matter of trust. 

The individual trustee may not be called upon to handle more than one estate 
in his lifetime, but it is the CONSTANT business of this company to discharge 
such duties and responsibilities. 

This company is free from the personal relations which always influence an in- 
dividual more or less. It is governed solely by business considerations and can- 
not be tempted into speculation of any kind. 

We have in our organization men especially expert in the various branches of 
trust administration, and it is not the experience of one man, but of many. 

There is such a thing as "collective" experience, ability and honesty. We con- 
sider it one of our best assets and one of the strongest bids we can make for your 
business. 

We always act under the strict supervision of the State. 

From experience we know that depositing and withdrawing by mail is entirely 
satisfactory. We want to tell you in detail why it is safe, convenient and profit- 
able. 

We are confident of our ability because we have knowledge and experience de- 
rived from the successful handling of many estates. 

As executor, this company faithfully carries out the provisions of a will. 

Our qualifications include: — Wide experience in the matter of investments; 
familiarity with probate law, the law of descent and distribution; financial 
responsibility and connections, and opportunities for advantageous disposition of 
the property to be sold. 

A number of years ago, at the birth of his first grandchild, a wealthy man put a 
sum of money into a "living" trust with this trust company. The interest is 
to accumulate until the child becomes of age, when there will be a considerable 
amount to turn over to him. The child's parents are amply able to support 
and educate him, and this trust will provide a fund that will enable him to go 
into business, or that will furnish a comfortable income throughout his life. 

We consider our impregnable safe deposit vault part of the equipment of our 
trust department, as it gives absolute safety to the perishable but very valuable 
papers of our clients. 

Exergy is not often considered in connection with the work of a trust company, 
but we believe that it is a very important factor in the success which has come 
to us in pushing the mutual interests of this institution and its customers. 



216 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

A trust company cannot be too well prepared to perform the very important 
duties that devolve upon it — even in the mechanical features. 

The books of this institution are kept by experts. They show at any time the 
exact condition of every account. They are examined by the State and audited 
by the court. 

All of the officers and directors of this company are men of demonstrated business 
ability. Their combined or "collective" ability works for YOUR benefit when 
you employ us. 

Knowledge is power. Successful experience in the handling of trust matters 
enables us to know exactly what to do to accomplish the best results in the 
quickest and most satisfactory manner. 

Ability is another word for powers— it makes honesty and experience effective. 
Employing this company in matters of trust, you have the benefit of multiplied 
ability. 

You run a great many chances when you place a trust, such as the handling of 
an estate, in the hands of an individual trustee. 

A portion of your property may be set aside, under a declaration, for the benefit 
of your children. Such a trust ought to be safeguarded against the possible im- 
providence or misfortune of your beneficiaries. 

Rents and other income will be collected and credited, or remitted if desired. 
Leases will be executed, repairs made and the payment of taxes and insurance 
attended to carefully. 

We are legally authorized to act in every capacity of trust and are better fitted 
than an individual to do so because of the collective honesty, ability and expe- 
rience of the men who direct the company and perform the services required by 
its customers. 

Every year the settling of estates grows more involved, because of new and 
complicated tax and other laws. Our organization keeps in constant touch with 
all new legislation and other conditions that affect estate and other property — 
and yet our charges are no more than the charges of the most inexperienced 
individuals. 

We place at your disposal expert service and a very complete organization. 

This company is prepared to assume the entire management of real estate and 
personal property of persons who, on account of absence, ill health or other cause, 
desire to be relieved of the responsibility. 

Even without the strict oversight of the State, and the large financial responsi- 
bility back of us, your interests in our bank would be perfectly secure and looked 
after with great advantage to you. 

Call or write for full particulars of the many ways in which this strong and 
efficient institution can help you. 

One of the most important services that a trust company may render an estate 
is to preserve the property when debts are pressing. 



TRUST ADVERTISING 



217 



This might happen to your estate 

COME months ago a fine old gentleman died who 

*-* for many years Tiad acted as trustee for a large estate 

Company was appointed to succeed him. 

\X7"HEN heassurr.ed the trusteeship 
"he was in the prime of successful 
business life and was well ableto man- 
age the property, but as hevgrew older 
his vigilance relaxed. When we took 
charge we found that a large part of 
the principal of the estate was in 
mortgages, some of which had run 
for twenty years without being re- 
newed or the property appraised. 

TX7 r E immediately had conservative 
** appraisers examine the properties 
and began to put the mortgages on a 
sound basis. We found, however, 
that about $20,000 had been lost 
through failure of the elderly trustee 
to keep careful watch overihe security 
behind the mortgages. 

T F this Company had been appointed 
-*■ trustee in the first instance, this loss 
would have been avoided. The Com- 
pany, keeps a. constant scrutiny over 
all investments in which trust funds 
are placed. 

Attor Tru»t Office: 

5th Ave. at 42nd St 

Bankers Trust Company 

Member Federal Reserve System, 




Downtown Office: 

16 Wall Street 



A concrete example > 

There is such a thing as "collective experience." That is another strong point 
of our service. 

In the general administration of trusts in all their details a corporation like 
this has the advantage of employing men who do that very business and nothing 
^else. 

An individual executor, assignee or receiver, for example, is bound to be more 
or less biased in many cases. It may be unconsciously, but nevertheless the 
bias exists. 



Frequently this company has saved more than the cost of administration to 
estates in its charge. 

Not the least point in favor of a trust company as compared with an individual 
in matters of trust is its absolute impartiality. 

A corporate is better than an individual trustee because it never dies and it is 
never absent or too busy for immediate action. 

Doixg its work by the collective judgment and efforts of several experienced per- 
sons, this company is superior to individual human frailties of judgment and 
conduct, which so often result disastrously in the case of a one man trusteeship. 



218 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

We write wills and preserve them in our impregnable vaults. We have the 
constant benefit of expert legal advice. 

Almost any purpose desired can be accomplished by means of a trust that be- 
comes effective now, while you are still living. Another great advantage is, that 
you can watch your affairs, and if conditions make it advisable, you can alter 
or entirely revoke it. 

One of our depositors wished to make absolutely certain that his daughter, who 
had recently married, would have a comfortable income during her life, no matter 
what her husband's circumstances might be. He lost no time in setting aside 
property in a "living" trust — that is, one in effect during his lifetime. The in- 
come was paid to him as long as he lived, and is now remitted regularly to the 
daughter. 

This company is authorized, under careful legal safeguards, to act as trustee 
under life insurance policies to invest the money and pay the income to the wife 
or child, until any specified time, when we pay the principal, also, as directed in 
the will. 

Administration of estates left without wills; receiver or assignee of enterprises 
in financial difficulties; agent for persons who want to be relieved of the manage- 
ment of their own business and property affairs — These are a few of our services. 

In addition to the faithful and efficient performances of trust functions, this com- 
pany does a general banking business, providing all the facilities and safeguards 
of a properly conducted bank. 

There are many important services which trust companies are constantly called 
upon to perform, and for which they are peculiarly adapted. 

Men who have devoted a good part of their lives to securing a competence for 
their families realize that it is quite as important to preserve the results of their 
labors. 

In case an individual trustee dies or for any reason cannot continue to act, the 
appointment of a successor by the court involves delay, trouble and expense — pos- 
sibly litigation. 

This company can act alone or with the wife or some friend of the testator. 

We may be named as trustee to hold property in trust for a wayward son or to 
protect a daughter from a spendthrift husband. 

An escrow is a trusteeship where securities or a deed of property are placed in 
trust until certain conditions have been fulfilled. 

If you are planning to make your will and choose an executor or have other trust 
business in mind consult us to learn how well we can serve you. 

Experience is one of the greatest elements of value in the service of trust com- 
pany — not the experience of one man alone, but of many. 

The work within this institution is divided into different departments, each 
under the supervision of a man whose integrity and ability have been thoroughly 
tested. 



TRUST ADVERTISING 219 

A "rainy-day" provision is another name for the Voluntary Trust. You can 
insure fair weather for yourself and those dependent on you by putting funds in 
trust now, with the income payable to you or to them. And if you wish, you 
can keep adding to the principal amount, thus increasing the income. 

Our directors' collective experience works greatly to the benefit of the estates 
and the other interests placed in their charge. It enables us to be most 
economical in administration, to grasp favorable opportunities, to avoid mis- 
takes. 

Our advice and information on investment matters is always at the disposal of 
our customers. 

This company acts as executor, administrator, assignee, trustee, guardian, at- 
torney in fact, or agent. 

Our directors are constantly in touch with the work of the institution and the 
officers must make frequent reports. 

The matter of supervision is an all important one as regards the work of a finan- 
cial institution. The laws of the State are very strict in this particular. 

The cost of the services of an efficient corporate executor, administrator or 
trustee is no greater than that of an individual acting in the same capacity. 

The officers and staff of this company have had a vast amount of experience 
in matters of a fiduciary nature. 

The trust company has the experience, the organization, the ability back of it, 
and being impersonal it is impartial. It is always in its office, always attending 
to business and always accountable to the courts. 

A corporation designed and authorized expressly to perform such duties is bet- 
ter fitted than any individual trustee or administrator could possibly be to con- 
duct a trust company with businesslike fidelity. 

It pays to employ the kind of service we render in fiduciary matters. 

We take an enthusiastic interest in getting the best possible results in every 
matter placed in our hands. We have no slipshod methods. System, accuracy 
and promptness are our watchwords. 

We always have the very latest information concerning all corporate securities 
actively dealt in on the New York Stock Exchange. This information is kept 
on a card system and is revised daily. 

This trust company will place its resources, experience and organization behind 
the provisions of your will and execute those provisions with a skill and thor- 
oughness which could not be equalled by an individual trustee. 

Funds left in trust with us and invested in first mortgages, are as safe an in- 
vestment as you can find. We manage all details and the income is paid to you 
twice a year. 

You obtain, for the same fees as you would pay an individual, the services of a 
company whose particular business is to deal in intricate matters of trust. 
Very often an individual trustee or executor is overburdened with his own 
business and cannot give undivided attention to estate business. 



220 MacGREGOK'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 



Resources Over $30,000,000 



THE ATTORNEY'S SERVICES 
ARE ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY 

AS executor of many wills, it is only through the 
closest co-operation with the lawyer who has drawn 
up a customer's will that the most efficient administration 
of his estate can be accomplished. 

We are convinced that this co-operation is also desirable 
in all other forms, of trust business, if the best interests 
of all are to be served. 

We, therefore, employ the attorney who brings 
en estate to us, and continually consult him. 

The Colpnial 
Trvst Company 

317 Fourth Ave. PITTSBURGH 318 Diamond St. 



Member Federal Reserve System 



Resources over $2 0,000,000 



Lawyers, Your Services 
Are Important To Us 

YOU deal with matters of law; we, with prob- 
lems of trust. Frequently, to solve our 
problems, we need your special knowledge just 
as the individual does. 

It is our policy to adhere to our special functions, 
while recognizing the necessity of yours. In pur- 
suance of this policy, when questions of law arise 
in the administration of an estate, in the guardianship of a 
minor or an incompetent person, or in the performance of 
duties as trustee, or when in any of those cases any instru- 
ments are to be drawn, we employ the services of the lawyer 
who has brought the estate to us. We consult him always. 

The Cpl°malTrv5T Company 



317 Fourth Avenue 



PITTSBURGH 



318 Diamond Street 



Member Federal Reserve System 



Member Federal Reserve System 



Our Proper Province 

is dealing in matters of trust. Therefore, we consult lawyers 
on all legal questions connected with the business of our 
Trust Department. Further, we send our patrons to their 
attorneys to have their wills drawn and we employ the 
services of those attorneys when questions of law arise 
in the execution of the trust or the administration of the 
estate. We believe that it is only through this sort of co- 
operation that the best interests of our clients can be served. 

The Colonial 
Trvst Company 

317 Fourth Ave. 318 Diamond St. 

PITTSBURGH 



Resources Over $20,000,000 



Co-operating with lawyers 



TRUST ADVERTISING 221 

A corporate executor like this is better than an individual because it has su- 
perior knowledge, wide experience, a complete organization for service. 

We are free from all influences which might affect an individual executor in the 
performance of his duties and are always to be found and always at work. 

We accept deposits subject to check; safeguard securities in our impregnable 
vaults ; collect bonds, mortgages, interest, dividends, coupons, etc. ; care for in- 
vestments and handle estates. 

The only safe way is to choose as your trustee or executor a corporation like 
this. Its existence is perpetual, its services are always available and it invari- 
ably complies promptly with every legal requirement. 

We are constantly subject to the inspection of the State Banking authorities. 

We must make several full reports of condition every year and at all times are to 
be prepared for an official examination. 

In many cases we have been able to save estates more than the entire cost of 
administration just on account of our economical, business-like methods. 

The laws of the State make a bulwark of strength for the benefit of every in- 
dividual or interest whose affairs are placed in our hands. 

A few years ago an elderly man left under his will a fairly substantial sum of 
money, the income from which was to be paid to a life-long friend, also an 
elderly man, who was alone in the world, and in reduced circumstances. The 
trust provided that if illness or other necessary expenses used more money than 
the income, such expenses should be paid out of the principal. This thoughtful 
provision assures the friend a comfortable maintenance the rest of his life. 

Trustees of hospitals, libraries, schools and such institutions have put their 
endowment funds in the care of our trust department, thus obtaining relief from 
care of securities and advice regarding the investment of the funds. Since the 
management of such institutions is subject to constant changes, trustees have 
decided that the care of funds — a financial matter — should be put in the hands of 
a financial institution. 

Authorized by the State, under stringent safeguards, to act as executor, ad- 
ministrator, trustee, receiver, assignee, agent or guardian, this company brings to 
such work the trained ability of men who have long specialized in this depart- 
ment of business. 

We have the strongest legal, physical and financial safeguards which it is pos- 
sible for a customer to demand or receive. 

You can have absolute confidence that your interests will be cared for with ac- 
curacy and fidelity in every respect and. that every requirement of the law and 
business common sense will be complied with strictly. 

You can do nothing wiser than to place your interests in the hands of this ex- 
perienced and thoroughly responsible trust company. 

The honesty of the officers, directors and employes of this company is beyond 
question. It is tried and proved and extends through every feature of our busi- 
ness — even beyond the legal requirements. 



222 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

This company has large capital and a constantly increasing surplus, our in- 
vestments are conservative and secure, and no sort of speculation enters into our 
business affairs. 

Fidelity and conservatism govern all our acts, our officers are men of proved 
integrity and ability, trained and experienced in the discharge of their duties, 
and we operate under the strictest legal safeguards. 

It is an almost unheard of thing for a group of men associated together to go 
wrong at one and the same time, especially when each one of them has behind 
him a long, clean record in the community. 

We invariably retain expert legal talent. This counsel is available to every 
estate or interest we handle, large or small. 

In investments, loans and expenditures we take no chances. This is not a one- 
man institution. 

The logical choice for a successor-trustee is a trust company, able to take charge 
of the duties of the office permanently and not subject to the limitations of an 
individual. 

No matter how small your property, we will give it just as careful attention 
as if it involved millions. We cordially invite you to call and talk to our presi- 
dent or trust department officers about how we can relieve you and your de- 
pendents of worry about the management of your property. 

On account of its stability, organization and collective character, ability and 
experience, this trust company acts with greater wisdom, economy and efficiency 
than any individual possibly could. 

This company exercises caution, foresight and good judgment in all of the 
various departments of its business. 

If you decide to put money into a new enterprise, provided other capital can be 
interested, or if an option can be secured, use us as agent to hold the money until 
every condition is satisfied. You can make the investment and at the same 
time keep it safely in your own control. 

This is only one of a score of ways in which a modern trust company like this 
can help you. We will be very glad to give you further information. 

In the case of an individual trustee, one man, possibly inexperienced, must 
supervise all the details of the trust, whereas in an institution like this the work 
is divided up among specialists and trusts are looked after or estates handled 
with the greatest possible economy of time and money. 

Experience has shown that a reliable corporation like this company as assignee 
is likely to turn over a much larger percentage to creditors than an individual 
would, no matter how honest and well meaning he might be. 

At this institution action is taken in every important case as the result of the 
collective judgment of several experts. 

The security of funds deposited in this institution is assured. Every possible 
safeguard — physical, legal, financial and human — is thrown around deposits and 
every feature of the operation of our business. 



TRUST ADVERTISING 223 

In a certificate of deposit investment you do not have to bother about taxes, 
rents, insurance, depreciation of property, default of interest, foreclosure pro- 
ceedings and the hundred and one other things that cause you loss of time and 
money when you invest in real estate or mortgages, for instance. 

Since this Company's foundation, many hundreds of trusts have been put in our 
care. Many of these established by a grandparent, have been continued un- 
touched by the children and grandchildren, because of the satisfactory service 
we have given them. A wealth and variety of experience has thus been gained 
that is invaluable in managing estates. 

Under a contract known as a "living trust" we care for the large property of a 
young woman which came to her at the death of her parents. Although her 
relatives were well qualified to manage her estate successfully, none wished to 
assume the care or responsibility, and they advised her to put it in trust with 
this institution. 

The mutual interests of this institution and its customers are protected by the 
co-operation of officers, directors and employes, who are at once a check and a 
help to each other. 

One of the great elements of strength in a corporation like this lies in the fact 
that the "collective integrity" of its board of directors provides a system of 
checks and balances which make anything but the strictest honesty an impossi- 
bility. 

To most business men there come times of uncertainty — days when they are not 
quite sure which way to turn or what step to take. It is at such times that the 
help of a good bank is most appreciated. 

The individual executor may be inexperienced; he may prove incompetent or 
dishonest; he may be burdened with other duties; he may be absent when his 
presence is most needed; he may meet with an accident, become ill or mentally 
unbalanced; he will surely die, possibly soon. 

In investments, loans, expenditures we take no chances. Our important steps 
are taken only as the result of careful deliberation on the part of as sound, sane 
and conservative a board of directors as is to be found anywhere. 

Although an individual trustee is required to give bond, the maker of the bond 
may die or become financially irresponsible. 

The combined experience of specialists gives this company a vast amount of 
efficiency in the handling of all matters of trust. 

The united ability and experience of such a group of men as the officers and 
directors of this company is at your disposal when you entrust any of your in- 
terests to our care. 

Errors of judgment are not at all likely to occur when any course is taken as the 
result of the combined discretion of a large number of experienced men of recog- 
nized standing in financial and commercial circles. 

Besides having the brains, experience, integrity and financial responsibility fit- 
ting us for the performance of the work entrusted to us, this company uses the 
most scientific methods of accounting and the best equipment for the quick and 
accurate handling of business. 



224 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

There is a real satisfaction to us in caring for trust funds, because we know 
our service has saved estates that might, in inexperienced hands, have melted 
away. In a number of instances young persons' receiving legacies had lost money 
because of making alluring but unwise investments, and wisely put the remainder 
in trust with this Company. 

Among the many small trusts we have on our books is one made by an old negro 
servant, a former slave. After she had obtained her freedom she worked hard 
and saved as much as she could. When she became too old to work she put her 
money in trust with us, at the advice of her former mistress. She receives her 
small income annually and knows that the principal is safe. 



A Simple Transaction — 
Relieving Yourself of the 
Care of Your Securities 




TF YOU wish us to assume ail details in 

all you need to do is to bring or send them 
m. We will check them over quickly, and give 
you a receipt describing them, in which we 
assume responsibility for their safety. 



WE 


then ho 


d the securities in our vaults, detach 


coupons 


collect and 


remit income, 


and attend to income tax details. II 


you so authorize, we 


make 


re- investments and sell securities. 






WE 


also endeavor to watch for called bonds, rights 


to convert 


bonds into 


stock 


rights tc 


subscribe to new bonds or stock, opportunities 


o sell bonds 


at a 


premium 


to sinking funds, also reorganizations, a 


nd like d 


velopments. 



Our charge for this service is moderate. We cor- 
dially invite you to call on us for further details. 

THE FIFTH AVENUE BANK 

of New York 

530 Fifth Avenue, N. W. Corner 44th Street 



Caring for securities 

Remember, the strength of this company is five-fold — unquestioned integrity, 
proved ability, extensive and successful experience, ample resources and legal 
safeguards. 

An individual is subject to every human misfortune, and your interests in his 
charge are imperiled accordingly. 

Not a few individuals and business houses in this community can thank us for 
timely aid and counsel. 

This trust company can provide you with letters of credit, made payable to your- 
self and available everywhere. 

One of the best recommendations for a trust company as administrator is that 
when a trained, efficient organization like that of this company handles an estate 
the records required by the court are sure to be full, exact and definite. 

Avoid risks by committing your trust to this strong company, which is legally 
empowered to act as trustee, is surrounded by every possible safeguard, has had 
wide and successful experience, and WHOSE LIFE IS PERPETUAL. 



Money in inexperienced hands is often a burden to the owner because he does 
not know how to invest it to the best advantage and is worried by the unac- 



TRUST ADVERTISING 225 

customed responsibilities. Our Trust Department is prepared to undertake the 
management of large or small amounts of property under a voluntary trust 
arrangement. We take charge of all details of management and credit the in- 
come to your account. 

Where an estate is controlled by a corporation like this trust company the great- 
est advantage may be gained from the fact that this company is in a position 
to make temporary cash advances and avoid sacrifices on the part of the estate. 

It is sometimes more profitable to deposit money here and let it draw interest 
on a certificate of deposit than to buy a mortgage because the delay in making 
mortgage loans and the consequent loss of interest, time and effort, lessens the 
earning capacity of such investments. 

Among the factors of strength back of our certificates of deposit are these: 
Resources largely in A No. 1 real estate mortgages. Strict State supervision, 
and the management of directors and officers who are men of probity, ability and 
experience. 

A fully equipped trust company has superior facilities for finding investments, 
for judging of their value, for keeping constantly advised as to changes that 
affect them, for maintaining custody of them, and, for disposing of them. 

Few individuals who are available have wide experience in the handling of estates 
or the investment of funds. 

Skill, talent, experience — these all have a very important bearing as applied to 
the service of a trust company. The right kind of ability for the work of an 
executor or administrator may mean a difference of many thousands of dollars 
to an estate. 

In the past year this trust company has earned for beneficiaries on all invest- 
ments made by us an average of — ■ per cent, above taxes, commissions and all 
legal expenses. 

This company is the best executor and trustee, either individual or corporate, 
that could be selected. Whatever a man may think about speculating with his 
own funds, he does not wish any speculation in the management of his estate. 

The ills to which all flesh is heir may prevent your executor and trustee, also, 
from acting. This company, on the other hand, grows stronger and more ef- 
ficient with each succeeding year. 

A living trust will safeguard any part or all of your property; will relieve you 
of its care; will assure a steady income for yourself or for others. A living trust 
can be so drawn that at your death the property can pass directly to your heirs. 

We have worked out records and systems for charitable and other institutions, 
which we shall be glad to explain to trustees or others interested. 

Professional and business men and women, elderly persons, those who travel, 
and others who wish to be free from the management of their personal finances, 
are using the services of this company to care for their business affairs under a 
"trust agreement." 

The men who have touch with the heirs of estates in our care have been chosen 
for their ability to handle the human, as well as the technical problems con- 
nected with trust business. 



226 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

An ability to see things from the point of view of each client — born of an innate 
sympathy and long experience— and balanced by the ability to be absolutely im- 
partial — these qualities, among others, have made the persons whose trusts and 
estates we handle, feel that they have not only a trusted agent, but a warm 
friend in this Company. 

Is it not essential to the safety of your estate that you make its management a 
strictly business matter? Would not this result be more surely obtained by 
putting your estate under the management of a sound trust company, strictly 



ggggagggggggzgxgE^^^^gggggg gsggzzmsa 




Where Progress 
Begins 

Trust company functions are common 
to all trust companies. All operate under 
the same legal safeguards. The difference 
comes in the individuals who administer 
the institution's affairs, and the individ- 
uals who use its banking and trust facil- 
ities. For the officers, and depositors of 
a banking institution not to know each 
other, argues a mutual lack of recogni- 
tion of how to get the most out of the 
banking relation. Are you getting better 
and better acquainted with your banking 
connections? They, with you? Progress 
begins at this point. 

Accounts of $S°° and over invited 

MERCANTILE 
Trust &* Deposit Company 

115 BROADWAY NEW YORK 



Making the most of a banking connection 

responsible to the laws of the Commonwealth, and with many years' experience 
in closing up estates and handling trust funds ? 

We have been for years handling the funds of large institutions, and have worked 
out excellent systems for that purpose, which we shall be glad to explain to those 
interested in the subject. 

Among the duties of an executor or administrator are: 

To secure the assets of the decedent and to preserve them for the benefit of the 
heirs. 



To protect and pay creditors and to distribute the property as the will directs 
or as the law provides. 



TRUST ADVERTISING 227 

Thus the administrator or executor is both the representative of the deceased and 
the agent for the living — a position of the most sacred trust and confidence. 

A trust company is best fitted to perform such duties with intelligence, economy 
and fidelity because it is absolutely unbiased by any personal considerations and 
does its work with the combined training, ability and honesty of a number of 
men of proven character and successful business experience and is surrounded by 
the strongest legal safeguards. 

As an agent this company can — 

Invest money for other persons and corporations. 

Manage their property, real and personal. 

Collect income and interest, pay taxes or other obligations. 

Manage estates, collect rents, insure property, draw deeds. 

Take charge of mortgages, or other investments. 

Collect dividends, coupons, notes, bonds or other obligations. 

Execute all escrow agreements. 

As guardian this company may — 

Care for the estate of a minor or an incapacitated person. 

Act as trustee, agent or attorney. 

Act as receiver, assignee, advisor. 

Our business is handled confidentially. We divulge no information except to 
those entitled to it. 

Our ability, experience and organization enable us to handle all matters with 
the maximum of efficiency and the minimum of expense. 

The fiduciary services which trust companies render are not confined to acting 
as executor under wills, although the efficiency and fidelity with which they 
serve in that capacity is the feature for which they are best known by many 
people. 

A prominent judge, dealing with probate matters, says: "I have been par- 
ticularly impressed with the fact that trust companies are much more prompt and 
able than individuals. I favor the trust company for the expeditious, business- 
like and prompt settlement of estates." 

To select as executor an individual, no matter how trustworthy he may be, or 
how close a friend, is to take chances with fate. The individual is mortal and 
fallible. If he does not die before the estate is settled, he may make mistakes 
injurious to the interests of your heirs. 

Points of trust company superiority include: Corporate impartiality and dis- 
interestedness; the combined judgment, ability, experience and integrity of a group 
of men who are specialists in just the things they are called upon to do; large 
financial responsibility; and state supervision. 



228 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 



She Has Protected 
Her Daughter's Future 




A YOUNG mother en me in several monlhs ago lo put funds in trust to 
provide for her child's care and education. "Most of my money was 
lost through poor management of my father's estate before I was old enough 
to know anything about business and I'm never going to allow such a thing 
to happen to my daughter," she said. 

The trust provides a regular income throughout the daughter's life. Have 
you protected your son or your daughter against their own inexperience or 
unscrupulous business advisers? A "living trust" or a trust established by 
your will will make your children financially independent. Ask us for 
booklets on "living truste." 

Union Trust Company 



A "living trust" 

In all these particulars the trust company is more competent to serve than anv 
individual because it is impartial, tireless, strictly supervised, and has a great 
aggregate of ability and experience to draw upon. 

Trust companies may conduct a general banking business, finance business un- 
dertakings, manage estates, act as fiscal agents and perform a great many services 
which cannot be so well performed by any other corporation or individual acting 
as an executor or administrator. 

This company never becomes incapacitated, and never neglects your affairs for 
its own. Neither does it speculate in any way. Because of the combined in- 
tegrity, skill and experience of its officers, it handles your affairs more ably and 
more economically than can be done in any other way. 

The administration of an estate is a serious responsibility. It requires experi- 
ence and an accurate knowledge of the many legal and financial points involved. 
Through ignorance of these facts, many estates are left to the care of personal 
executors, who lack the knowledge and experience required. 

This trust company acts as agents for firms and individuals in all kinds of 
legitimate transactions. It will buy for you securities or real estate, invest 
your funds, take complete charge of your property, rent it, keep up repairs, pay 
taxes and insurance, relieving you of all details connected therewith. 

Estates placed in our charge are managed with greater safety, produce larger 
income and incur smaller expense than those handled by individuals as we are 
especially fitted by experience and equipment to perform work of this nature in 
a most satisfactory manner. 

This company is fully equipped to do anything that an individual can do and 
it can render more satisfactory service because of its efficient organization and 
broad experience. 



TRUST ADVERTISING 229 

Our officers will consider it a distinct pleasure to consult with you regarding 
your trust requirements and you will not, of course, be placed under any obliga- 
tion whatsoever by such a consultation. 

There is an erroneous impression abroad that fiduciary institutions like this are 
of service only in handling the estates of decedents. We can serve you equally 
well in such matters while you live, managing your property and executing com- 
missions for you. 

This trust company's existence is perpetual, and it is absolutely responsible, its 
fidelity being guaranteed by large capital and strict State supervision. The cost 
of our service is moderate and fixed by statute. 

The death or incompetence of a personal executor or trustee may defeat the plans 
of a lifetime. That is why persons with property holdings should be much in- 
terested in the trust powers of this institution. 

Trust company service insures satisfactory results. This institution is capable 
of the most superior service and offers the greatest degree of security and economy 
of administration. 

We are prepared to perform faithfully all matters of a fiduciary character which 
may be intrusted to us. 

This trust company can act as an executor of your will, or trustee of your estate, 
or guardian of your children's property with greater safety and benefit than any 
private individual acting in those capacities. 

Those who transact their financial affairs through this trust company are as- 
sured of safety and at all times exactly the class of service which suits their in- 
dividual requirements. 

It collects interest, coupons, dividends, annuities, pensions and any other form 
of income, notes, accounts, bonds, mortgages, etc., looks after repairs and improve- 
ments, keeps up insurance, pays taxes and collects rents. 

If you desire to endow institutions or set aside funds for the maintenance of 
individuals, you can name this institution as trustee, thereby procuring for the 
beneficiary a service of the highest order in the care of the property. 

A prominent financier says: "The trust companies have it within their power 
not only to develop their business functions along broader lines of usefulness than 
ever before, but also to become a most important factor in advancing the social 
welfare of the nation — which, indirectly and ultimately, will exert its beneficent 
influence upon all other nations. The opportunity of the trust companies lies in 
their especial facilities for effecting a more scientific and systematic husbandry 
and distribution of our wealth." 

The long experience of this Company in handling estates makes possible the 
satisfactory settling of matters which few individual executors could adjust. 
We were executor of the will of an elderly gentleman whose affairs were in great 
disorder. Many debts and mortgages were due him of which there was no record, 
since he had kept no books of account. Our organization, with the counsel of 
his attorney, sifted and audited masses of papers, and searched through various 
court records many years back. At last we were able to make settlement to the 
entire satisfaction of the heirs. 



230 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 




YOUNG local business mar. 
recently went to South America. 
Before leaving he made an .agreement 
with our Trust Department by which we relieved him and his 
family of all cares and anxiety regarding his personal affairs. 
The management of his entire property is left in our. hands. We 
will collect all incomes, settle accounts, attend to property and 
repairs, and other details. He has arranged for a liberal allow- 
ance to be sent to his wife every month, and a portion of his income 
will be credited tohis account, on which he will be able to draw 
drafts while he is abroad. 

He has the privilege of ending this trust at. any time, or he may 
continue it until his death, in which case it provides for the dispo- 
sition of practically all his property. 

We can, in a similar manner, relieve you of the 
worries and cares of your property. CaU upon our 
Trust Officers today. You will be under no obligation. 

fi ttagant yagga R ank 




Managing property during the owner's absence 

The wisest course is to place matters of trust in the hands of a strong institu- 
tion such as this, organized, authorized and equipped for this very purpose. 

You may have a trust which you desire created for the benefit of some relative 
or friend. This can be incorporated in your will. But the will should be 
properly and legally drawn; otherwise, the trust may fail. 

It frequently happens that men wish to provide for their families a fund which 
shall be beyond the reach of their creditors and safe from any unforeseen calami- 
ties. For such purpose they convey sufficient property to a trust company as 
trustee, with a definite contract as to the disposition to be made of the principal 
and income. 

You are cordially invited to consult our trust department, which is equipped 
to execute satisfactorily all trusts as authorized by law. 

The full benefit of our knowledge and experience in the matter of investments 
is placed at your disposal as one of our clients. 

For persons who are too busy or too inexperienced, trust company service is a 
great boon, as it is a time, worry, work and money saver. 



A man who wishes to see that his estate is properly managed will use wisdom 



TRUST ADVERTISING 231 

in calling on us and letting us explain our fitness to act in this capacity. We 
know that a trust company managed as this one is can render to an estate far 
more valuable service than an individual possibly could. 

If you so desire, this institution can be of valuable service to you by acting as 
agent in handling your stocks, bonds and other securities. 

As an institution, we never tire and never take a rest, but are found ready for 
business every business day. 

There is but one safe course to pursue to protect your heirs, and that is to ap- 
point as executor an institution like this which makes a specialty of that kind 
of work and provides all the necessary safeguards. 

The only privilege enjoyed by a national bank which is denied to a trust company 
is that of obtaining, issuing and circulating notes. 

It may be to your advantage, if you are a man or woman of property, to call on 
our officers and see if this Company cannot assist you materially by carefully 
guarding your securities — 

Collect your dividends, coupons and maturing obligations as they come due; and 
dispose of the proceeds as you may direct — 

Carry out your orders to buy and sell securities — 

And do many other things that we do as Agent and Trustee. 

This institution is authorized by law to act as executor and trustee. It is fully 
equipped to handle any and all questions which may arise, and to guard its 
clients' interest at every point. 

To have your eatate distributed according to your wishes, the first essential is 
to make a legal will and to select a proper executor to carry out its provisions. 

The cost of employing this trust company — the most competent executor — is no 
more than for an individual acting in that capacity. 

Acting as trustee of an estate or for an individual, this trust company takes 
entire charge of the property, whether real or personal or both, just as an in- 
dividual acting in like capacity would do. 

The trust company combines many of the most desirable features of the national, 
state and savings banks, and adds to these the advantages of a corporate trustee, 
which are very many. 



It would seem that it ought to be unnecessary to emphasize the importance of 
making a will, but the large number of persons who die intestate shows the 
necessity of such a reminder. 

Such a trustee as the Blank Trust Company is always readily accessible and is 
never subject to the thousand and one interruptions of service which may over- 
take the individual at any moment. 

Do not overlook the possibility that an individual to whom a trust is committed 
may die or become incapacitated on the very day that he undertakes the trust. 



232 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

The choice of another trustee will then involve delay and additional expense — 
perhaps serious loss. 

The final test of efficiency is results. Therefore, the most competent executor 
is the one who best serves and conserves the interests placed in his charge. 

It is not merely a reasonable theory, but a demonstrated proposition that a cor- 
porate executor, like the Blank Trust Company, is better prepared to get satis- 
factory results than the average individual executor, who of necessity lacks many 
of the strong points of the good trust companies equipment. 

Some other points worthy of consideration are the following: 

Peksonnel of management; capital, surplus and reserve; directors that direct; 
carefulness in loans and investments; State supervision; registry of bonds and 
stocks; transfer and fiscal agent; personal supervision by officers; investment 
development, bonds, etc., for trust funds; handling real estate, paying and col- 
lecting rent; paying taxes, insurance, etc. 

Auditing and regular examinations; employes handling securities are bonded; 
modern and complete office equipment; free advice of officers; making and carry- 
ing out provisions of wills; promptness, fidelity; courtesy; collections on all 
points promptly and cheaply made; quality of assets, doubtful paper charged off; 
interest on time deposits and checking accounts; executor, administrator, trustee, 
guardian, assignee, receiver; interest on daily balances. 

Trustee under mortgage securing bonds; making loans to depositors; banking 
by mail; handling conservative and meritorious construction enterprises. 

Agent and attorney in fact of inexperienced persons and of benevolent and re- 
ligious institutions and orders; agent and attorney for non-residents; depository 
for fiduciary officers; liberality, accuracy, stability; comparative statement of 
growth of institution; send for free booklet giving information to the public; 
legal depositary for trust funds; discounting business notes; safe deposit depart- 
ment; making audits for corporations, municipalities, institutions and individuals. 

As much attention to small as to large accounts; trust funds kept separate; 
guaranteeing real estate titles; handling fraternal and secret society finances; 
total amount of interest paid in history of company; trust company does not die, 
go insane or otherwise become incapacitated; other advantages of corporation 
over an individual; large reserve in cash on hand and in banks; clearing-house 
arrangements; detailed report to banking department; inquiries about assets, 
management and policy welcome; company independent of control of any single 
interest. 

Depository for State, city, court and trust funds; tell all about checks; tell all 
about physical safety (from fire, burglary, etc.) ; property in escrow; let us be 
your bookkeeper; women's department; checking accounts for women (con- 
venience, safety, etc.) ; distributing incomes; investing trust funds for widows 
and orphans; interested in welfare of customers; convenience of location and 
facilities in banking quarters; correspondent banks and collection facilities; 
facts about industries and geographical advantages of community. 

It is a tribute to the American man's thoughtful foresight for his family, that 
more than half the trusts on our books have been made for the benefit of wives 
and daughters. The men who made these trusts — both under will and during 
their lifetime — have taken no chances on the financial future of their dependents. 



TRUST ADVERTISING 



233 



A CO-OPERATIVE TRUST COMPANY CAMPAIGN 

Two prominent financial advertising men have prepared an out- 
line of why leading trust companies should undertake a joint national 
advertising campaign on estate service. 

Few people know about trust compan} T service. Even men of 
wealth are surprisingly uninformed. The very terminology of trus- 
teeship is not understood. 




Will your heirs conserve 
what you leave them? 

TWO young men were each left a large 
amount of money by a relative whose estate 
we settled, and without using even a dollar of 
the principal, they immediately made trust agree- 
ments with us, under which we hold the prin- 
cipal and pay them the income. The result is 
that the principal is intact. 

In contrast is the action of a young man and 
woman, who were each given $150,000 under 
their father's will. Within two years the son 
had entirely dissipated his share. Since he had 
not been educated to support himself, he is now 
dependent on relatives and is exceedingly un- 
happy. Much of his sister's money has also 
melted away and the remainder is being used 
and controlled by her husband. 

As trustee under will or trust agreement, 
this Company will safeguard the interests 
of your heirs. Our officers at either the 
Uptown or Downtown office will be 
glad to talk with you about this matter. 

Bankers Trust Company 

Member Federal Reserve System 
Downtown Office: Astor Trust Officer 

1 6 Wall Street Fifth Ave. at 42nd Street 



Safeguarding the future 

Court records show that comparatively few testators name trust 
companies in their wills. They also show an appalling amount of 
loss and trouble incurred by inexperienced heirs and by individual 
executors and trustees. 



TRUST COMPANIES SHOULD UNDERTAKE A JOINT EDUCATIONAL 
CAMPAIGN ON THIS SUBJECT 



Until properly informed, men will continue to leave their property 
outright to their heirs or name individuals to represent them, and 
the local advertising and sales effort of individual trust companies 
will be seriously handicapped. 



234 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

TRUST COMPANY ESTATE SERVICE SHOULD BE AS WELL KNOWN 
AS LIFE INSURANCE 

They both make a similar appeal, but how vastly greater is the 
public response to life insurance, because it for many years has been 
aggressively advertised. It is an accepted institution. Millions of 
people employ it. Trust company service also is capable of wide, 
popular extension. 

A BROAD NATIONAL ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN NEEDED 

What is needed is a national advertising campaign of sufficient 
volume and impressiveness to make people think and act in this matter. 
It should acquaint them with the desirability of making a will and 
naming an executor; it should inform, them of the advisability of 
creating a trust by will and deed of trust; it should point out the 
limitations of individual trustees ; it should explain in a simple, popu- 
lar way, the service a well equipped trust company can render, at a 
cost which is no more than individual executors and trustees are en- 
titled to charge. 

MODERATE WEALTH NEEDS TRUST COMPANY SERVICE 

The appeal should be made especially to the great middle class 
which is well off, but not rich, whose estates run from say $25,000 
to $250,000, and are rapidly increasing in number. These are the 
ones who need protection most and get it least. They seldom look into 
the matter. Moreover, it is highly important to the trust companies 
that they seek and obtain this middle class business, in view of the 
profound changes which the great war will effect in the redistribution 
of fortunes and in the public's attitude toward them. The estates of 
the future are going to be smaller. Income taxes will curtail private 
fortunes. Inheritance taxes will cut down bequests, A large num- 
ber of medium sized estates can be made profitable to trust companies 
if they organize their service facilities to handle them. They also 
afford a good will asset far more extensive and protective than a few 
large estates. 



CHAPTER VI 
SAFE DEPOSIT ADVERTISING 

IN the whole realm of banking there are few things more tangible 
than the service the safety deposit institution or department 
has to offer. 

"When a man rents a safe deposit box he sees what he gets and 
he realizes at once that he is given his money's worth in convenience, 
protection and peace of mind. 

Therefore, it ought to be a pleasant and easy task to apply to 
the safe deposit business the principles of advertising set forth in 
this book. 

The importance of advertising is now quite generally appreciated 
by safe deposit men, but there is reason to believe that many bankers 
neglect opportunities to increase the business of their safe deposit 
departments. 

When the cost of a modern vault is considered, it would be folly 
not to advertise and do personal work to keep it profitably employed. 

Where a safe deposit vault is part of the equipment of a bank 
or trust company, it should be the rule that every regular customer 
of the bank should be shown through the vault and have its various 
features explained to him. He should be made to feel that the pro- 
tection offered is insurance as necessary as that against fire or on 
his life. 

Paul W. Muller, of the Passaic (N. J.) Trust and Safe Deposit 
Company, says that this method of advertising, in his experience, 
has proved particularly effective in the case of the apparently poorer 
classes. The shabby man usually has no safe, and the very struggle 
he has made to get together what he possesses makes him eager to 
hold it. His safe is an old cigar box or the mattress in his bedroom. 
At the first alarm, his thought is for his papers. When the proposi- 
tion of renting a safe deposit box and thus doing away with the con- 
stant worry of guarding them is presented to him for the first time, 
the very novelty of the idea becomes a great aid in securing his patron- 
age. 

235 



236 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

Some of the talking points of the safe deposit business are as 
follows : 

ARRESTING ATTENTION 

The statement, "There can be no real peace of mind without security of 
property," is an epigram which makes one stop and think. It strikes a note of 
alarm, and a moment's reflection satisfies one that it is not misleading. To in- 
vestigate a better place to keep the family jewels than under the carpet is a 
logical result. Such striking sentences as the following serve the same purpose: 

"It is better to be safe than sorry." 

"Indifference to a vital necessity cannot be excused on the plea of economy." 




You Will Enjoy Your Summer 
Better If Your 
Valuables Are Safe 



"V7"OU can avoid anxiety about 
J- the safety of precious articles 
in your home, by placing them in 
our storage vaults. 

Objects of art, silverware, winter 
clothing, hangings, can be packed 
away in boxes or trunks and stored 
in our burglar-proof, fireproof and 
dampness -proof vaults, at a very 
moderate charge. 

Telephone us for storage rates, and telephone us when the 
package is ready. We will call for and deliver it, assuming 
all liability while the package is in our hands. 

Union Trust Company 



Caring for valuables 

"Money and valuables in these vaults are safe from prying and thieving 
persons." 

"The unprotected woman who must look after her own property has direct 
or indirect need of a safe deposit company's protection." 

"When a thing is important and will be of direct benefit to yourself, act 
quickly and wisely." 

"Thieving and burglary demonstrate that the average office safe is no more 
proof against the scientific thief or dishonest employe than an ordinary desk." 

And so on. The more graphic you can make the danger of non-protection 
within the limits of truth, the better. Sometimes illustration helps. The Union 
Safe Deposit Company of Pittsburgh pictures a burglar entering the window of 
a man's bedroom at night and compelling him, at the point of a revolver to give 
up his valuables. The public can no longer reply to this cartoon by citing the 
case of the vault custodian who was compelled at the point of a burglar's pistol 
to disclose the combination to the vault. Time locks have eliminated that danger. 

Every hazard that formerly menaced the safety of one's treasure has been 
met by the makers and guardians of the modern safe deposit vault, and every one 
of the checks and guards which overcomes such danger is the pride and glory 
of the safe deposit business. So far as consistent with necessary secrecy, every 



SAFE DEPOSIT ADVERTISING 237 

one of them should be mentioned by some striking phrase in each company's 
advertisements. 

Some companies use watchwords, such as "Strength! Security! Secrecy!" 
(this one being, perhaps, too suggestive of the patent medicine ad. — "Swift's 
Sure Specific"). Or, better, "Experience! Vigilance! Strength F" These set 
forth general, salient features. 

WHAT TO AVOID 

The features which should not be mentioned in any ad. are those which might 
give undue publicity of private methods or business. They may be disclosed in 
answer to questions on the part of reliable persons who have a right to the in- 
formation for satisfactory business reasons; but not otherwise. Especially un- 
professional is it to disclose in an advertisement or write-up, without permission, 
the names of distinguished men who are patrons of the vaults; and, indeed, it 
may well be doubted whether it is a wise business policy to disclose them even 
with consent. 

EMPHASIZE VAULT STRENGTH 

Each vault has some peculiar advantage worth "playing up" in the advertise- 
ment. It may be the location, or the good light, air, and roominess of the in- 
terior, or a long record of success, or some recent improvement in construction, 
or, best of all, the courtesy, technical knowledge, accuracy, promptness, watch- 
fulness and judicious care on the part of the custodians. If the safes for the 
storage of silver are velvet-lined, that is worth mentioning. The private recep- 
tion room and coupon rooms for ladies, or the extreme precaution taken to 
identify safe-holders and their deputies are as advantageous and well worth men- 
tioning as the fact that the proximity of the United States Sub-Treasury gives 
the vault "exceptional protection in the event of riot or other mob violence, 
through the immediate presence of national troops," or that a steam pipe, set di- 
rectly above the outer door to the vault, "is ready at any moment to discharge 
from its open mouth an unlimited torrent of steam." 

EMPHASIZING VAULTS SPECIAL FEATURES 

If one vault has not all the advantageous features of some other vault, it has 
some features worth mentioning, which in their way may be just as good or 
possibly better. The ingenuity of the author of ads. can be brought into play 
in innumerable ways to present each important "angle" of the business by some 
bristling, pointed paragraph. 

Now that the advantages of safe deposit are generally known and recognized, 
and putting valuables in vaults is as common, in this country at least, as sub- 
scribing to the newspapers, the "long winded" historical and descriptive booklet 
is no longer necessary. After the busy man or woman has been aroused to the 
need of protection, he or she wants to know the important details of the vault's 
construction and management. "Personal inspection invited" is then in order. 

The live company renews its advertising matter every two or three years 
or oftener. It is seldom, if ever, that a safe deposit company becomes so settled 
and prosperous that no advertising is necessary. This happy condition is more 
than likely to result in an enlargement of the vaults. Seldom does any business 
become so self -progressive that its merits can be made known solely by the good 
report of its customers. 

If advertising is dispensed with, there is always the danger that rivals 
will forge ahead. It would be a paradox indeed if a company were to fancy it 
could afford to spread abroad the epigram, "We never advertise"! It would be 
an evidence only of self-sufficiency, disclosing the danger of settling back and retro- 
grading. 



238 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 



A SAFE DEPOSIT BOOKLET 

The author has written a safe deposit booklet which has been used 
by quite a number of institutions to advertise their business. The 
copy of the booklet, as used by the Plainfield (N. J.) Trust Company, 
is as follows : 

PROTECTING YOUR VALUABLES 

It is impossible for the average private individual to have a safe of his own 
as secure and convenient as the Safe Deposit Vault of The Plainfield Trust Com- 




Where are you keeping 

your Liberty Bonds and 

other valuables? 

Yi 



OU can rent a safe-deposit 
box in our burglar-proof 
and fire-proof vaults, for 
from $ 1 to $500 a year. 



BOSTON SAFE DEPOSIT 
& TRUST COMPANY 

100 Franklin, at Arch and Devonshire Streets 



Getting good copy out of a news item 

pany, for the simple reason that this vault cost more than the average individual 
could possibly afford to spend for protection. 

But the co-operation of a large number of individuals makes possible this 
place of perfect security and renders personal care and anxiety in watching and 
guarding valuables unnecessary. 

This booklet is written in order to explain the safety, convenience and 
economy of using a private safe in our massive Safe Deposit Vault. 

In the first place, we want to describe the vault. Then we want to impress 
upon you personally the importance of taking advantage of the protection it 
affords. 



SAFE DEPOSIT VAULT 

Our Safe Deposit Vault, the interior dimensions of which are 8 x 14 feet, 
is constructed of special open hearth armored steel of the best quality, which is 
capable of standing a tensile strain of 80,000 pounds to the square inch. It is 
protected by two massive doors, operated by triple movement time locks. The 
vault is equipped with small individual safes, all of which are 24 inches in depth 
and vary in height and width from 2x5% inches to 20x30 inches. The locks 
on the doors of these safes open only when the keys of the box renter are used 
in conjunction with the master key, which is held by us. They may be rented at 
$5.00 a year and upwards, according to size. Seven light and well ventilated 
coupon rooms are at the disposal of those who wish to examine private papers or 
cut the coupons from their securities. 



SAFE DEPOSIT ADVERTISING 239 

STORAGE VAULT 

The unusual demands made upon the storage vault which was installed at 
the time our new building was erected in 1905 made it necessary in the spring of 
1910 to erect a new steel-lined vault considerably larger than the old one. This 
vault is fitted with trunk racks and partitions which make it possible to keep the 
trunks and packages held in storage in perfect order so that access may be had 
to them at a moment's notice. For the further convenience of our patrons, there 
has been provided a well-lighted reception room, where trunks or bags may be 
repacked and substitutions made when desired. Our storage rates are 50 cents 
a month and upwards, the charge being based on size and valuation. Many of 
our customers keep the silver which is not in daily use in our vaults from year 
to year, withdrawing portions of it when luncheons or dinners make an extra 
supply necessary and returning it to us when no longer needed. 

HOW THIS AFFECTS YOU 

There are a great many things that could happen to your valuables left at 
home or in your office that could not possibly happen to them when stored away 
in this bank's impregnable, Gibraltar-like Safe Deposit Vault. 

Why take chances? Why not eliminate even the possibility of loss by rent- 
ing a box in our fire and burglar-proof vault? 

Every year fire, burglary, theft, carelessness, cause the loss of many thou- 
sands of dollars in actual cash kept at home or on the person. 

Besides the sense of security which is yours when your valuables are safely 
locked up in one of our safe deposit boxes, you will find it a great convenience 
to have your securities, bank books, papers, etc., right here in the business section. 

CONVENIENCE AS WELL AS SAFETY 

In this way you avoid the necessity of carrying valuable papers to and from 
your residence and thus do away with the possibility of loss by carelessness or 
theft. 

The Safe Deposit Vault is not solely for the benefit of persons of wealth. You 
do not have to be rich to use a private safe to advantage. Persons who do not 
possess a great many valuable papers may nevertheless appreciate the wisdom of 
protecting those they have, when they can do so absolutely for as small an outlay 
as $5.00 a year. 

Among the valuable papers and articles that we can store away safely for 
you are: — 

Leases, deeds, abstracts, mortgages, contracts, partnership agreements, pen- 
sion papers, naturalization papers, bonds, stock certificates, bank books, insurance 
policies, receipts, blue-prints, plans, precious stones, laces, heirlooms, rare books, 
plate, and many other such things. 

Have you anything of this kind that is exposed to loss or destruction? If so 
you ought to store them in our vault. 

BUSINESS IS CONFIDENTIAL 

There is just one more point we want to emphasize and that is that in trans- 
action of business with our Safe Deposit Department you are assured of perfect 
privacy. It takes two keys to open a box in our Safe Deposit Vault. One is the 
master key, which we retain. It only half unlocks the boxes. The other is held 
by the renter of the box and cannot operate the lock until our key has been used. 

FIREPROOF BUILDING 

In addition to the security afforded by our vaults, as explained in the pre- 
ceding pages, your valuables would be further protected by the modern building 
of fireproof construction, which is used exclusively for our banking purposes. 



240 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

You will be interested in seeing what massive construction and great ingenu- 
ity have done to create an absolutely safe depository for valuables. Come in to 
see the vault. We will be glad to show you the details of its operation whether 
you have any immediate use for a box or not. 

The Old Colony Trust Co., Boston, used the Halifax disaster as a 
text to advertise the safe-keeping of valuables in general and the use of 
the company's vaults in particular, by enclosing the following card 
with monthly statements of depositors : 

To Our Depositors: 

The deplorable catastrophe which overtook Halifax recently reminds us 
that our homes and places of business are not immune from destruction and that 
our private papers and valuables are not really secure from total loss unless 
placed in specially constructed Safe Deposit Vaults, which actually protect 
against such accidents and fire, flood, and burglary. 

It is a fact that the well built bank vaults of San Francisco and Baltimore 
withstood the severest tests of fire and water, while the commoner office and home 
safes were utterly destroyed with their contents. 

We desire to call your attention to the Vaults of our three offices, which 
we believe offer unexcelled advantages of Protection and Convenience. A roomy 
box may be purchased as low as three cents a day, an insurance cost which no 
one need feel. 

You are cordially invited to inspect our commodious Vaults, and meet our 
attendants who will gladly explain to you our Safe Deposit Service. 

OLD COLONY TRUST COMPANY 
A GOOD SAFE DEPOSIT LETTER 

A Washington, D. C, bank sent out this safe deposit letter re- 
cently : 

To Our Depositors: 

I want to call your attention to something which you have probably not 
seriously thought of before — something which costs so little and yet will afford 
you so much protection and ease of mind. 

Right here in Washington, less than a week ago, there was a big fire in an 
apartment house situated within ten blocks of this bank, which spread so rapidly 
that a great many of the tenants lost absolutely everything they owned — valu- 
able papers which can never be replaced and other articles of value. 

FOR LESS THAN ONE CENT A DAY you can place your jewelry, Liberty 
Bonds, and valuable papers where they will be absolutely jsafe from loss by fire 
or theft and yet be easily accessible to you for examination or withdrawal as 
often as you wish. 

Here at this bank, surrounded by every protective appliance and safeguard 
against fire, theft or destruction by any cause, our Safe Deposit Boxes provide 
you with insurance against losses that might run into the thousands of dollars 
—and all FOR LESS THAN ONE CENT A DAY. 

We installed these Safe Deposit Boxes at an expense of a good many thou- 
sands of dollars, for YOUR CONVENIENCE and PROTECTION, and you can 
enjoy them for a sum so small that NOT to do so is an open invitation to 
thieves, a hazard of fire and a mark of indifference or carelessness that may cost 
you dearly in the long run. 

AND ALL FOR LESS THAN ONE CENT A DAY, 



SAFE DEPOSIT ADVERTISING 241 

Won't you come in and give us the pleasure of showing you our Safe Deposit 
Boxes ? 

To the letter was attached a clipping from the Washington "Post" 
calling attention to the many housebreakings, thefts, assaults and rob- 




An effective cover to a safe deposit booklet 

beries of a single day. Commenting on this advertising, ' ' The School- 
master," in "Printers' Ink," said: 

Banks aren't so formidable as they used to be. Neither are bankers. 

Time was, for example, when a descent into the old-fashioned safe deposit 
vault used to chill the genial spirit of the Schoolmaster like an excursion through 
the Tombs, and the grand high warden who stood at the door and twirled his 
keys used to threaten him mentally with all the terrors of the Donjon. 

But times have changed, and bankers more and more are taking on the 
cheery attributes of advertising men. 

A SAFE DEPOSIT FOLDER 

A folder sent out by the First National Bank, Shelby ville, 111., 
read as follows : 

Do you own a Bond, Stock, Mortgage, Note, Life or Fire Insurance Policy, 
Deed, Abstract, or any other valuable papers? 
There are four ways of caring for them : 

1. Hide them. 

2. Put them in your desk. 

3. Put them in a tin box. 

4. Put them in a safety deposit vault. 

We ask you to put them in our Safe Deposit Vault, because: 



242 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

1. It is the safest way. They are safe from fire and crook. In life or 
death only you or your authorized representative is allowed access to them. 

2. It is the most efficient way. Your papers are never misplaced — always 
where you put them. This saves time. 

3. It is the accepted way. No Safe Deposit Customer goes back to the old 
way of keeping valuables. 

4. It is the modern way — our Safe Deposit Vaults and Coupon Rooms were 
built for your use. Our vaults and equipment are unsurpassed in this State, 
and are one of the features of our up-to-date banking office. We shall be glad to 
demonstrate the many advantages this service has for you. Come in. Let us 
show you. 

Sent out to prospective renters, especially customers in other de- 






The Season 

When you are apt to be 
away for the week-end, or 
off on a vacation, is the sea- 
son when the summer burg- 
lar thrives. And now is the 
time to entrust to our keep- 
ing the valuables that you 
have at home or have been 
keeping in the office safe— 
you'll be able to enjoy your- 
self the more without the 
worry about their safety, 
and you may be spared a 
costly lesson. 

THE MERCANTILE 
Safe Deposit Company 

Established 1870 
US BROADWAY, NEW YORK 

A vacation safe deposit appeal 

partments, the circular brought good returns, accompanied as it was 
by a letter from the president making a special low-price introductory 
offer. 

FOILING BUSYBODIES 

' ' Foil the busybody ' ' is the interesting title of a safe deposit adver- 
tisement. This matter of privacy for personal papers is one that is 
not emphasized as much as it should be as a talking point for the use 
of the safe deposit box. 

INSURANCE POLICIES 

Writing to "System," a banker explains his methods of gaining 
new safe deposit customers : 

We offer to place in our safe deposit boxes our employees' insurance policies, 

and, of course, their Liberty bonds and any other valuable papers they may have. 

We also keep a list of the expiration dates of their fire, accident, and other 



SAFE DEPOSIT ADVERTISING 



243 




A Great Treasure Chest 

A Protection 

that only the Desert Isle or Castle Dungeon' 

Hidden Stone Used to Afford 



This great Safe Deposit Vault is located just off 
the main floor at the Citizens Trust Company. 

The vault proper is constructed of tons of steel 
and concrete. It has an entrance door of 12 tons 
dead weight. The multiple time locks with their 
heavily jeweled watch-like movements tick off the 
hours from closing time until opening time. 

Inside the steel room are hundreds of NEW 
Safety Deposit Boxes just installed, in addition to 
the thousands of old ones. The locks of these 
individual steel compartments respond only to the 
"open sesame" of individual owners. 

Modern achievement has accorded you a pro- 
tection which only the desert isle or the castle 
dungeon's hidden stone used to afford. 

This great vault holds the modern thief in as 
much awe as did the Sphinx God who watched 
over the Pyramids protecting them from the super- 
stitious thieving hordes of ancient Egypt. 

Our guardians of the vaults will consider it a 
pleasure to conduct you through and explain all its 
intricacies. 

We hereby appoint you as a committee of one 
to inspect this modern attainment with its hundred 
of new compartments. 

Private rooms located near the vault. 



CITIZENS 



TRUST COMPANY 

SENECA SQUARE-GENESEE. COLUMBIA ANQ SENECA STREETS 



UTICA, N. Y. 



A new angle for safe deposit copy 



term insurance policies, so that we may notify our employees when their insurance 
runs out. We keep this record in duplicate, one copy in the safety vault, and 
the other in the office. 

Y\ hen a policy expires, we ask the employee, and we do the same with our 
own policies, to take out the next one only to December 31 of that year. So gradu- 
ally all the policies we take care of are coming to expire on the same day; this 
simplifies our records and reduces the chance of any being overlooked. 



244 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

In regard to the "Treasure Chest" advertisement of the Citizens 
Trust Company, Utica, N. Y., F. S. Woodrow said : 

In analyzing this advertisement, note how the writer has borrowed from the 
rich stores of tradition to illuminate the copy. I believe that this is all right if 
the tradition is aptly adopted, especially in a description which may become 
tedious to the reader. 

It lends atmosphere to the thing described. It makes the reader, while 
perusing a hundred words, think a thousand. Like sentiment in copy it must be 
skillfully handled, or like attempts at sentiment, which when crudely handled 
become sentimentality, so things traditional become offensive if overdone. Do 
not attempt to follow this style unless you are skilled in the art. Does the 
Treasure Chest advertisement create a desire on your part to see such a vault? 
Does it stimulate your imagination? Would you look next day for another ad- 
vertisement over the signature of that bank? 

Following are a dozen safe deposit advertisements written by the 
author for a number of different banks : 

LOSS OUT OF THE QUESTION 

Loss is out of the question when your valuables are in a safe deposit box 
in this bank's strong vault. 

We rent private safes as low as $ a year. 

This means that you can have absolute safety for your important papers 
and other valuables for less than a cent a day. 

WITH A SAFE DEPOSIT BOX 

you need never worry about the security of your valuables. 

When such security as our wonderful vault affords can be had so cheaply, 
is it not the height of folly to take chances and carry your own risk? 

THE BLANK NATIONAL BANK 



SAFETY, CONVENIENCE, ECONOMY 

These are the strong points of advantage to be derived from the use of a 
private safe in our massive safe deposit vault. 

This vault is made of several ' layers of the hardest kind of steel. It is 
put together by a process which makes it impervious to any attack that could 
be made upon it. The locks are perfect. One great advantage 

OF THE SAFE DEPOSIT VAULT 

is that in keeping your valuable papers right here in the heart of the city you 
obviate the trouble and risk of carrying them back and forth or caring for them 
in your home or office. 

Safe deposit box rental prices are from $ a year up. 

THE BLANK NATIONAL BANK 



ABSOLUTE SAFETY FOR $ 

It is the sheerest folly to allow bonds, stock certificates, mortgages, deeds, 
cash, jewels or other valuables to remain a moment unprotected from loss by 
fire, thieves or carelessness when for an extremely small expenditure you can 
insure their safety absolutely. 



SAFE DEPOSIT ADVERTISING 



245 



You can rent a safe deposit box in our 
vault for as little as $ a year. 



lpregnable, fire, burglar, mob-proof 



With your valuables 



IN A SAFE DEPOSIT BOX 

you can have peace of mind about their safety. 

When for such an amount — an infinitesimal fraction of the value of the 
property protected — you can have perfect protection, why do you run any risks? 



Safe Deposit and 
Safe-Keeping 

JlgC;---!-., 




We offer both sale deposit and safe-keeping service. 
They are not the same. When you prefer to handle your 
own investments, a sale deposit box is a necessary phys- 
ical protection for the securities, but if for any reason you 
want to be relieved of the detail work in connection with 
the handling of them you can profitably use our safe- 
keeping or custodial service. 

In this way your securities have the protection of our 
vault, and we look after the collection and remitting to 
you or crediting to your account of all income therefrom. 
Ask for full particulars. 

Montclair Trust Company 



Safe deposit and safe-keeping 

Whether' you feel the immediate need of a safe deposit box or not, come in 
any way, as we will be pleased to show you the vault and explain the features 
of its great strength. 

THE BLANK NATIONAL BANK 



A COMMUNITY STRONG BOX 

The safe deposit vault has been aptly called "the community strong box." 
Vastly better protection to valuables is afforded by the massive safe deposit 

vault of the Blank National Bank than practically any private individual could 

afford to have exclusively for his own use. 

With a large number of individuals co-operating 

THE SAFE DEPOSIT VAULT 

of this bank is made possible — a place of perfect security at moderate cost. 

We have a thoroughly burglar and fireproof vault where safe deposit boxes 
or private safes can be rented at as low a rate as $ a year. 

Surely this is a small price to pay for peace of mind and actual protection 
of your important papers and other valuables. 

THE BLANK NATIONAL BANK 



246 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

THE CONVENIENCE 

of having your securities, mortgages, bank-books, insurance policies and other 
valuable papers right here in the business heart of the city is one of the greatest 
advantages of using our safe deposit vault. You avoid the necessity of carrying 
important papers to and from your residence and do away with the possibility of 
loss by carelessness, fire or theft. Another great benefit of the use 

OF SAFE DEPOSIT 

vaults is that when your valuables are thus safely locked up you have a sense of 
security, a peace of mind. This is worth a great deal to you — certainly as much 

as $ a year, which is all that it costs you to rent one of the private safes 

and provide for the perfect protection of your valuables. 

THE BLANK NATIONAL BANK 



KEEP YOUR INSURANCE POLICIES 

where they will be secure. A prominent insurance man says that insurance com- 
panies have considerable trouble through carelessness of policy-holders in keep- 
ing their policies in insecure places, where they are liable to be destroyed by 
fire, lost or misplaced. 

If you do lose a policy, it will cost you considerable trouble and expense to 
get a duplicate. 

IN A SAFE DEPOSIT VAULT 

like ours your policy will be preserved intact and you will never have to go 
to the expense of advertising a lost policy or executing a bond in double the 
amount of the face of the policy before getting a duplicate issued. 

This is only one of the many advantages of having a safe deposit box. 
Whatever you use it for, you are assured of perfect privacy as a renter of one 
of them. Annual rental, $ . 

THE BLANK NATIONAL BANK 



LESS THAN A CENT A DAY 

Can you afford to take chances on the safety of your valuable papers when 
you can have absolute safety for them in our safe deposit vault for only $ — — 
a year? 

What might the loss of one of those papers mean to you and how little it 
costs to prevent the possibility of loss ! 

Besides the actual protection of your valuables, there is another strong 
argument. 

FOR A SAFE DEPOSIT BOX 

and it is the freedom from worry, the peace of mind which will be yours when 
you know that no harm can come to your valuables stored away in our great 
fire and burglar-proof vault. 

Among the articles we can guard for you are: — Leases, deeds, abstracts, 
mortgages, contracts, partnership agreements, pension papers, naturalization 
papers, bonds, stock certificates, bank books, insurance policies, receipts, blue- 
prints, plans, precious stones, laces, heirlooms, rare books, plate, and many other 
such things. 

THE BLANK NATIONAL BANK 



SAFE DEPOSIT ADVERTISING 247 

A SAFE DEPOSIT BOX 

Would Have Prevented This 



From 

Yesterday's 

Paper: 



LIBERTY BONDS STOLEN 



Long Beach, July 22. — Liberty 
bonds and other securities valued, ac- 
cording to the police, at $100,000, were 
taken from the home of Mrs. Jennie 
Kndsley here last night during the ab- 
sence of the owner. This was revealed 
today when a box containing appar- 
ently all of the securities was found 
on a lawn near the Endsley home. 
Many of the papers, according to the 
police, were negotiable. 



THE SAFE WAY 

This unfortunate affair would not have occurred had the papers' 
been kept in a safe deposit box. 

An entice /section of the* Farmers and Merchants Bank devoted to the 
Safe Deposit Department. Fire and burglar-proof boxes at a nominal 
.rent. Attendant at your service frpm,8 a. m. to 6 p. m. 

THE FARMERS AND MERCHANTS BANK 

Main at San Joaquin "Bank of Good Service' 

MEMBER FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM 



"From yesterday's paper" 

THE STANDING INVITATION 

Better be safe than sorry. An ordinary safe at your home or in your office is 
a standing invitation to the house breaker. 

A safe deposit box in the vault of the Blank National Bank is the best 
place for you to keep securely valuable papers, jewels and other things of that 
nature. 

The annual rental of a box is only $ , so that in regard 

TO THIEVES AND BURGLARS 

there is no doubt at all that a safe deposit box is the cheapest insurance in 
the world. 

Our vault is one of the largest and strongest in this part of the State. It 
is of the most modern type and construction. Built of the hardest and thickest 
steel, it is drill-proof, air and water tight, fire and burglar proof and is guarded 
day and night. 

THE BLANK NATIONAL BANK 



PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY 

It is impossible for a private individual to have a safe deposit vault as 
secure and complete as that of the Blank National Bank, for the simple reason 
that that vault cost more than the average individual's entire property is worth. 

But a large number of individuals co-operating makes possible this place 



248 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

of perfect security and renders the care and anxiety of watching and guarding 
valuables unnecessary. 

Don't keep money or valuables around your house, office, or on your person. 
It's dangerous. Deposit your money in a strong institution like this, to earn 
from — to — , and rent a box in our Gibraltar-like vault for the safe keeping of 
your valuables. Rental from — to — a year. 

BLANK NATIONAL BANK 



TWO KEYS FOR EACH BOX 

It takes two keys to open a box to our safe deposit vault. One is the master 
key, which we retain. It only half unlocks the boxes. The other is held 
by the renter of the box, and cannot operate the lock until our key has been used. 

This is only one feature of the many details of safety which make our 
vault one of the most secure places in this part of the State. 

You will be interested in seeing what massive construction and great in- 
genuity have done to create an absolutely safe place for valuables. Visit our 
vault. We will be glad to show you the details whether you have any immediate 
use for a box or not. Come anyway and see what a lot of security you can get 

for $ a year. 

BLANK NATIONAL BANK 



YOUR PEACE OF MIND 

The actual protection of your valuables — the guarding of them from loss or 
destruction — is not the only benefit you enjoy when you use a safe deposit box 
in our Gibraltar-like vaults. 

It means something to you to be entirely free from anxiety about the 
safety of your property. It is worth a good deal to be able to dismiss from your 
mind ALL worry about the security of your important papers and other precious 
things. 

Then why not insure both the safety of your belongings and your own 
peace of mind by renting a box in our safe deposit and storage vaults — one of 
the strongest in this part of the State? 

Rental price is from $ to $ a year, according to the size of the 

box. Come in and let us show you the vaults. It is an interesting sight and 
you will be welcome, whether you rent a box or not. 

THE BLANK NATIONAL BANK 



PARAGRAPHS FOR SAFE DEPOSIT ADVERTISING 

Since unregistered Liberty Bonds are just like cash, it is as dangerous to have 
them around your house, subject to fire and theft, as to have that much in bills. 
You have other documents, too, that should be in a safe place — insurance policies, 
deeds, abstracts of title, marriage and birth certificates, stocks and other bonds. 

You should store your silverware in our storage vault when you go away from 
home. 

If you have an abstract of title, or in fact any valuable papers, you should 
insure them against loss by renting a safe deposit box. 

Protection is not expensive; it amounts to an investment that is continually 
paying for itself — the peace of mind — the sense of security — that comes from 



SAFE DEPOSIT ADVERTISING 



249 




I 




"Shut up, whadjj 

MyslFfiFr 



Robbery on 22d Story of 
Pittsburg Building 
i s Puzzl e. 
10 ; I Detectives Work on Belief I 
- That It Was One-Man I 
" Job. j, 

a* -8, (M»,„ rw.Xe. York Tm, rt ljaia) wy , [ 
PITTSBURG, Feb. 27.— Tr ' '" 
I jchlnery of the Pittsburg bui 



PERHAPS the value of the securities now locked in your office 
safe doesn't run into such a big figure — but— 
If you have $1,000 worth or even $100 worth, better put them in a 
safe deposit box in the strong vault atThe,Cleveland Trust Company. 
Here is provided every possible safeguard against theft or fire. 

Today is the time— tomorrow may be too late I 

Cleveland 
ftrust Company 

Resources over $63,000,000. 

Up-to-the-minute news value 

having one's valuable papers lodged in a fire and burglar proof vault is worth 
many times the cost of a safe deposit box. 

If your valuable papers and other precious belongings are worth a few cents a 
day to you there should not be a moment's hesitation in placing them in a 
burglar and fireproof vault. 

A vault in our Safe Deposit Department can be rented for as little as $ a 

year. It might be worth $5,000 to you some day. 

Carelessness causes an aggregate of loss in the course of a year fully as large 
as that due to dishonesty. 



Safety deposit is the cheapest and best insurance for valuables. 



250 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

It is none too soon to think of putting your silverware and other portable 
articles of value in a place of safe-keeping while you are away from home on 
your summer vacation. A safe deposit box, large enough to hold your bonds, 
insurance policies and other valuable papers may be rented here at a moderate 
price. 

You should keep your will in a safe deposit vault. 

You should keep your fire insurance policy where you can get it "after the fire." 

You should keep the deed to your property in our vault. 

You should keep your life insurance policy where your family can get it if 
you die. 

You should have a place of safe storage for your jewelry or valuable heirlooms. 

Keep your important papers and gems and jewelry not often used in a safe 
deposit box where they will not only be secure from loss by carelessness but 
also from dishonesty or the destructive elements of nature. 

You will be greatly interested in seeing the massive construction of our vault, 
the ingenious and faultless locks of the vault itself and the individual boxes, 
and all the arrangements for the comfort and convenience of users. 

At this vacation season, when so many people are going away from home, the 
matter of the safety of valuables is one of vital importance. 

The safe deposit vault is the community strong box. In our vault are private 
boxes for the safekeeping of papers and other valuables of small size. For valu- 
ables of a bulkier nature there is a large storage space. 

The rental charges for private boxes and for storage space are reasonable, out 
of all proportion, in fact, to the great amount of protection afforded and the 
peace of mind insured by the use of these facilities. 

The strongest materials and the most scientific skill have gone into the making 
of our fortress-like vault, which is proof alike against any assault that evil- 
intentioned men or the forces of nature could make against it. 

Nobody but you or somebody authorized by you can obtain access to your papers 
or other valuables stored in one of the private safes or boxes in our strong vault. 

For a merely nominal sum you can have the use of security which costs a large 
sum to provide. 

It would be sheer folly to go away on a vacation trip and shut up silverware and 
other valuables in your house. 

For almost nothing — less than a cent a day — you can rent absolute security for 
your portable valuables in our safe deposit vault. Why take risks ? 

The co-operation of a large number of private box-users makes possible this 
great vault, which is absolutely fire and burglar proof. 

Desk and dresser drawers, metal boxes, house safes, are primarily places where 



SAFE DEPOSIT ADVERTISING 251 

thieves can break through and steal. Your valuable papers, and other posses- 
sions are never absolutely safe outside of a deposit box. 

Now is a good time to place jewelry, securities, and other valuables in a safe- 
deposit box. While you are on your vacation, your mind will be easier to know 
that such articles are safe from fire and theft. Even while you are at home, 
windows and doors will be open, and your valuables more or less exposed. 

When you go away leave worry behind as far as your valuables are concerned. 
Rent a safe deposit box in our great burglar-and-fireproof vault, put therein your 
investment securities, extra jewelry, keepsakes, etc., and you can go away on 
your vacation trip with your mind at ease touching their safety. 

Neither fire nor burglary insurance can compensate you for the loss of things 
you value for other considerations than their intrinsic worth. These are the 
things for which the safe deposit vault is the best insurance. 

The small rental charge for a box in our great safe deposit vault is little enough 
to pay for absolute peace of mind in regard to the safety of your important 
papers and other valuables. 

X ei titer your home nor your office is the proper place for a will, deeds, marriage 
certificate, mortgages, bonds, stock, life insurance policies and many other essen- 
tially personal valuables. Put them into safe deposit. 

Whex you go away from home your valuables ought to be put where they are 
absolutely safe, and your private papers ought to be where they are shielded from 
prying eyes. 

The vacation period is the time of all times when you should consider the wis- 
dom of using a safe deposit box. 

You need a safe deposit box all the year round, but especially during this vaca- 
tion time. Come and see how little it costs to have absolute protection in our 
safe deposit vault. 

Keep your insurance policies where they will be secure. Insurance companies 
have considerable trouble through carelessness of policy-holders in keeping their 
policies in insecure places where they are liable to be destroyed by fire, lost or 
misplaced. 

Better be safe than sorry. An ordinary safe at your home or in your office is a 
standing invitation to the house-breaker. 

With your valuables in a safe deposit box you can have peace of mind about their 
safety. 

Loss is out of the question when your valuables are in a safe deposit box in this 
bank's strong vault. 

Whether you feel the immediate need of a safe deposit box or not, come in 
anyway, as we will be pleased to show you the vault and explain the features of 
its great strength. 

Safety, convenience, economy — these are the strong points of advantage to be 
derived from the use of a private safe in our massive safe deposit vault. 



252 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

Have you valuables that are too bulky to go in a safe deposit box — clothing, 
silverware, rugs, paintings? Ought you take the risk of leaving them in the 
house while you are away from home, even for a short time? Our storage- 
vaults will keep them safe from theft, fire and dampness. We call for and 
deliver packages. 

Our vault is one of the largest and strongest possible. It is of the most modern 
type and construction. Built of the hardest and thickest steel, it is drill-proof, 
air and water tight, fire and burglar proof and is guarded day and night. 

One great advantage of the safe deposit vault is that in keeping your valuable 
papers right here in the heart of the city you obviate the trouble and risk of 
carrying them or caring for them in your home or office. 

Another great benefit of the use of safe deposit vaults is that when your 
valuables are thus safely locked up you have a sense of security, a peace of mind. 
This is worth a great deal to you. 

Surely this is a small price to pay for peace of mind and actual protection of 
your important papers and other valuables. 

Vastly better protection to valuables is afforded by the massive safe deposit 
vault of this bank than practically any private individual could afford to have 
exclusively for his own use. 

When for such a small amount — an infinitesimal fraction of the property pro- 
tected — you can have perfect protection, why do you run any risks? 

A safe deposit box in our vault is the best place for you to keep securely valu- 
able papers, jewels and other things of that nature. 

Besides the actual protection of your valuables there is another strong argument 
for a safe deposit box, and it is the freedom from worry, the peace of mind 
which will be yours. 

It is the sheerest folly to allow bonds, stock certificates, mortgages, deeds, cash, 
jewels, or other valuables to remain a moment unprotected from loss by fire, 
thieves or carelessness when for an extremely small expenditure you can insure 
their safety absolutely. 

You can rent a safe deposit box in our impregnable, fire, burglar, mob-proor 
vault for as little as $5 a year. 

We have a thoroughly burglar proof and fireproof vault, where safe deposit 
boxes or private safes can be rented at a low rate. 

With a lar^e number of individuals co-operating, the safe deposit vault of this 
bank is made possible — a place of perfect security at moderate cost. 

You would be willing to pay a few cents a day to know beyond a doubt that all 
your securities, valuable papers, jewelry, or family heirlooms were absolutely 
protected from loss, fire or theft. 

Many details of safety make our vault one of the most secure places in this 
part of the State. 



SAFE DEPOSIT ADVERTISING 



253 



;■-■'■■ -1% 3 'MlllllilWlllllllllllllfl[^llllll)illl»illl:| 



3- oW=h 



fill 111 



.HulUELA 



ffff 



mmuiroinin™ ' 1 I'll 111 M 

'RS?',f""" 1 IB ■"'"■"in 



For The S 
That 



Before You Leave 

Sure 
s Are Safe 



IT will add greatly to 
the pleasure of your 
vacation trip to know 
that your valuable 
articles are safe from 
theft, fire, moths and 
dampness. 



SILVER, paintings, rugs, 
furs and valuable cloth- 
ing may be packed and 
stored in our fire-proof 
and burglar-proof 
vaults, at a moderate 
charge. 



We cordially invite you to come in and 
let us show you our new storage vault. 



TACOMA 



NATIONAL BANK 

WASHINGTON 
A timely appeal 



Our great vault provides a place of perfect security and renders the care and 
anxiety of watching and guarding valuables unnecessary. 

Can you afford to take chances on the safety of your valuable papers when you 
can have absolute safety for them in our safe deposit vault for only $5 a year? 

If you lose an insurance policy it will cost you considerable trouble and expense 
to get a duplicate. 



254 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

In a safe deposit vault like ours your policy will be preserved intact and you 
will never have to go to the expense of advertising a lost policy or executing a 
bond in double the amount of the face of the policy before getting a duplicate 
issued. 

In regard to thieves and burglars there is no doubt at all that a safe deposit box 
is the cheapest insurance in the world. 

Don't keep money or valuables around your house, office, or on your person. 
It's dangerous. Rent a box in our Gibraltar-like vault for the safe keeping of 
your valuables. 

What might the loss of one of those papers mean to you and how little it costs 
to prevent the possibility of loss! 

When such security as our wonderful vault affords can be had so cheaply is it 
not the height of folly to take chances and carry your own risk? 

The safe deposit vault has been aptly called "the community strong box." 

This vault is made of several layers of the hardest kind of steel. It is put 
together by a process which makes it impervious to any attack that could be 
made upon it. The locks are perfect. 

You can have absolute safety for your important papers and other valuables for 
less than a cent a day. 

You will be interested in seeing what massive construction and great ingenuity 
have done to create an absolutely safe place for valuables. 

Many women are already beginning to store their silver, furs and other bulky 
valuables in our clean, bright and airy storage rooms for the summer. These 
vaults are absolutely free from dampness and dust. 

The convenience of having your securities, mortgages, bank-books, insurance 
policies and other valuable papers right here in the business heart of the city 
is one of the greatest advantages of using our safe deposit vault. 

With a safe deposit box you need never worry about the security of your 
valuables. 

Visit our vault. We will be glad to show you the details whether you have any 
immediate use for a box or not. Come anyway and see what a lot of security 
you can get for $5 a year. 

It is impossible for a private individual to have a safe deposit vault as secure 
and complete as that of this bank for the simple reason that that vault cost 
more than the average individual's entire property is worth. 

You avoid the necessity of carrying important papers to and from your residence 
and do away with the possibility of loss by carelessness, fire or theft. 

It takes two keys to open a box in our safe deposit vault. One is the master 
key, which we retain. It only half unlocks the boxes. The other is held by the 
renter of the box, and cannot operate the lock until our key has been used 

It means something to you to be entirely free from anxiety about the safety of 



SAFE DEPOSIT ADVERTISING 255 

your property. It is worth a good deal to be able to dismiss from your mind 
all worry about the security of your important papers and other precious things. 

The actual protection of your valuables — the guarding of them from loss or 
destruction — is not the only benefit you enjoy when you use a safe deposit box 
in our Gibraltar-like vaults. 

RENTAL price is from $5 to $15 a year according to the size of the box. Come 
in and let us show you the vault. It is an interesting sight and you will be 
welcome, whether you rent a box or not. 

Why not insure both the safety of your belongings and your own peace of mind 
by renting a box in our safe deposit and storage vaults — one of the strongest in 
this part of the State? 

Our vault is in a comparatively low building so that in case of a fire there would 
be no skyscraper to topple down on it and prevent your getting at your valuables 
quickly. 

The preservation of a certain paper in his safe deposit box spared one of our 
customers a lawsuit and the possibility of losing a large amount of money. 
This customer declares he will never be without the use of a safe deposit box. 

Among the articles we can guard for you in our great safe deposit vault are 
these : 

For individuals — Court decrees; jewelry; old coins; deeds; mortgages; trust 
deeds; receipts; cancelled checks and notes; heirlooms; fire insurance policies; 
life insurance policies; accident insurance policies; memorandum books; diaries; 
household inventories; contracts; rare books; deposit books; notes; wills; 
sketches; drawings; blue prints; stocks; bonds leases abstracts; photographs; 
pension papers; naturalization papers. 

For merchants — Mortgages; contracts; paid invoices; cancelled checks and notes; 
fire insurance policies; inventories; cash books; ledgers; notes; stocks; bonds; 
leases: partnership agreements. 

For lodges — Rituals; charter; seal; bonds; stocks; notes; record books; receipts; 
fire insurance policies; leases. 

May be placed in storage — furs; jewelry; silver; rare china; cut glass; costly 
laces and silks; paraphernalia; rare paintings. 

No person can afford to take the risk of letting valuable papers remain unpro- 
tected when a secure place can be obtained at a cost of less than one cent a day. 

The only absolutely safe way to care for such valuables is to put them in a safe 
deposit vault, which is scientifically built to withstand any assault by man or 
the elements. 

And the cost of this security is very little. You can rent a private box in this 
vault for as little as $2.00, $3.00 and $5.00 a year, according to size. Come 
in and let us show you our vault and the boxes. 

There is no more secure place in this part of the State than our vault. Come 
and let us show it to you. 

Comparatively few persons have a safe either at home or office in which to 



256 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 




4F" ^%lfk* 

For Travelers— 

These Three Services 

Safe deposit boxes for your val- 
uable papers, securities, and 
jewelry. 

Storage for your silver and other 
valuable household property. 

Travelers checks and letters of 
credit as safe and convenient 
travel money. 

Your vacation will be much happier if 
you are free from worry about the safety 
of your property at home and your 
money that you must carry with you. 





Trust Company 



Corner Main and Beau Streets 
WASHINGTON PENNSYLVANIA 

Service for travelers 



SAFE DEPOSIT ADVERTISING 257 

keep their valuable papers, notes, bonds, stock, contracts, insurance policies, etc. 
And the ordinary safe is little protection when a really determined attack is 
made upon it by evil-intentioned persons. 

Each box is furnished with a new lock upon every change of its renting, and 
on its surrender the keys must be returned. 

"Fm glad that was in my safe deposit box. What would I have done if it 
hadn't been ?" Customers have more than once said that to us after they have con- 
sulted some important paper in their safe deposit box, the loss of which would 
have been a great misfortune for them. 

You cannot conceive of anything more secure and convenient as a keeping place 
for your important papers and other valuables of a portable nature than the 
burglar and fireproof vault of this bank. Nothing can harm them, nobody un- 
authorized can reach them. They are absolutely secure. 

A safety deposit box in this bank's strong, electrically protected vault will 
afford you the best protection. Rentals are very reasonable. 

Nobody unauthorized can get into our large vault. You can put your most 
precious papers or jewels into a safe deposit box with the absolute assurance 
that they will be preserved from even the possibility of loss or harm. It will 
well repay you to see this vault. Come in and let us show you what a lot of 
security you can get for a small amount of money. 

In addition to all the safeguards inherent in the massive and ingenious con- 
struction of the vault itself and the careful watch that is exercised over it, our 
safe deposit vault, as well as the bank's own vault, has the extra protection of 
an electric alarm system which renders it impossible for anything to go wrong- 
in connection with the vault without there being a prompt announcement of the 
fact which will bring the proper authorities to the spot at once. 

How about your fire, burglary and life insurance policies, receipts for insurance 
premiums, notes, deeds, mortgages, leases, contracts, bonds, stock certificates, 
genealogical records, certificates of deposit, pension papers, army discharge papers, 
naturalization papers, valuable private correspondence, warrants, savings pass- 
books, marriage certificates, abstracts or securities of any nature? Are they 
protected from fire, loss, burglary or prying eyes? 

Every farmer has private documents which it would trouble him much to lose — ■ 
the deed to his farm, abstracts, tax receipts, other receipts, canceled checks, 
naturalization papers, etc. Is there a place in the farm house where they are 
absolutely safe? This bank will be glad to have farmers call and be shown the 
safeguards which are offered in its safe deposit vault. The cost of a private 
box is moderate and every farmer needs one. 

If you are in need of a place of perfect safety for your securities and other im- 
portant papers, Ave suggest that you come in soon and secure a box in our fire- 
and-burglar-proof vaults. 

Whether you rent a $3 or a $25 safe-deposit box you will receive the same un- 
varying quality of service and courtesy. The one object of our safe-deposit 
officials is to give our clients the benefit of the most modern methods of con- 
ducting safe-deposit business, in the pleasantest possible manner. 

Let us do your worrying about the safety of your valuables and important 



258 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

papers. In other words, keep them in a safe deposit box in our fire and burglar- 
proof vault. As a matter of fact, we won't have to do any worrying, either, as 
we know how very strong and well guarded our vault is. The rental charge 
for a box is only $2.00 a year — less than a cent a day. 

About half a cent a day is all it costs to rent a safe deposit box in our fire 
and burglar-proof vault. The box is 5"xiy 2 "x22 inches in size and will contain 
all the valuable papers that the average person possesses. To open the box it 
takes two keys — yours and ours. $2.00 a year is very inexpensive insurance for 
your valuables, to say nothing of your peace of mind. Come in and let us show 
you our vault and how it is protected. 

Many persons who have come to us to rent boxes, had the mistaken idea that the 
bank itself has access to all the boxes. This is entirely erroneous. We have a 
master key but this is useless without the owner's key — of which we do not pos- 
sess a duplicate. We cordially invite you to call and ask to be shown through 
our Safe Deposit Department. 



CHAPTER VII 
BANK EMBLEMS 

THE value of an emblem to any financial institution lies in this 
— it provides something concrete around which the popular 
conception of the institution can be built. 

An emblem gives continuity and unity to advertising. It helps 
create good will for the business. If it is a good one, it emphasizes, 
either directly or by subtle inference, some valuable feature of the 
institution or of the service it renders. 

Not the least advantage of using a good emblem in advertising 
is that the design serves as an eye-catcher, drawing attention to an 
announcement that otherwise might escape the notice of many readers. 

An appropriate emblem can be made to mean a good deal to a 
bank. It has a distinct advertising value in exact proportion to the 
extent to which it is known and recognized by the public at large. 

A well-chosen trade-mark has quite as much advertising value for a 
bank as it has for any other business. A mark of this sort, consisting 
of an eagle with outspread wings, bearing the name of the bank on its 
wings and the words, "A Bank of Strength and Character" in its 
talons, was adopted several years ago by a bank in the Middle West. 
It has, the officers believe, increased the pull of the bank's advertising 
at least fifty per cent. The eagle is used on letterheads, deposit tickets, 
checks and every piece of advertising issued. The constant display of 
the trade-mark has made it so familiar that when people see it, atten- 
tion is attracted and the advertising which it marks is almost sure to 
be read. 

In this chapter we present a large number of bank emblems, most 
of them good and worthy of the study and emulation of any bank, new 
or old, which is considering the advisability of adopting a trade-mark 
emblem. In many cases local or national history, geographical, per- 
sonal or other special features have been used as the basis of the idea 
incorporated in the emblem. 

Following is the explanation of the emblem by the Appomattox 
Trust Company of Petersburg, Va., illustrated herewith: 

To the world at large, the word Appomattox suggests only the defeat of the 
Army of Northern Virginia. Very well, accept that and its symbol is a broken 

259 



260 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

sword; but it is not thrown down and abandoned, nor lowered on account of 
intimidation. It is held "at guard" and while in this position is broken by an 
irresistible force, broken but crowned with a wreath of immortality and is with- 
out stain. 

To amplify the Crest we look to the shield and see that the contending parties 
are the United States and the Confederate States, and the Confederate Battle 



FIRST 

mm* 

BANK 











Flag is beginning to be furled. Between the two flags is the bugle suggested by 

the line from Bayard Taylor. "The bugle sang truce" and for fear we might 

not instantly catch the import intended, we have below the Bugle Call, "Cease 
Firing." 



The idea for the Akron emblem suggested itself during the exca- 
vating for the building now occupied by this bank. The cellar was 
blasted from solid rock which took several months and excited con- 
siderable curiosity as well as newspaper comment so the slogan, ' ' Solid 
as the rock on which it is built ' ' is very apropos. 

The emblem of the American Security and Trust Company, Wash- 
ington, is a Chinese symbol signifying longevity, and one of the sym- 
bols particularly used by the Empress Dowager. It has been used in 



BANK EMBLEMS 



261 





A 



DUBUQUE 







LACLEDE 

FOUNDER OF 
ST.UOU16. 





262 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 






AMERICAN 



^ National 
tfgg BANK &j 

VA OF ^y 



JIL. 




APPOMATTOX. 



BANK EMBLEMS 



263 





TRUST & SAVINGS BANK 

LOCUST-N. W. CORNER-SEVENTH 




FIRST 

NATIONAL BANK 
IN BROOKLYN 



ESTABLISHED 1852 




NATIONAL 4 

UNION 
BANK 

Of Maryland 

Fayette near Charles ( 

In the National Union there is strength. 



The CONTINENTAL and 
COMMERCIAL 

BANKS 

CHICAGO 




Trust Company 



WASHINGTON 



PENNSYLVANIA 



264 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 





FIRST NATIONAL BANK, 
MONTGOMERY, ALA. 




THE 



THE 

BRIGHT 

NATIONAL 

BANK 



(its souare) 
FLORA, INDIANA 



CHATHAM 



CHATHAM" 




The Bank of North America 

(NATIONAL BANK;) 

TUt. OLDEST B-AWK* 'n ^1 M E R.1 C^\ 
C(,»r..t.r=.d fy CONGRESS ,n I?B1 

Philadelphia 



COMMERCIAL 
BANK 



Crown Point, Indiana. 




Bank 

New York 



BANK EMBLEMS 265 

the bank's advertising more or less because its strong black lines and 
curious shape serve excellently to draw attention, and because it bears 
a significance peculiarly appropriate to a trust company. 

A dog's head is rather an unusual emblem for a bank. "Prince" 
stands for the Farmers Deposit Savings Bank of Pittsburgh. The 
original "Prince" was the property of T. H. Given, late president of 
the bank. 

The Citizens National Bank of Raleigh, N. C, explains its swastika 
emblem in this way : 

Many inquiries are made as to the significance of this unique emblem which 
appears in gold on our window and on our varied stationery. The swastika is 
probably the oldest known religious symbol. It signifies happiness, pleasure 
and good luck. It was used as a charm on the monuments of the most ancient 
Aryan and Indian races. In the middle ages it was employed to avert the "evil 
eye." 

There is a pretty story that tells how if a bride, initiated into the mysteries 
of the ancient faith, drops her betrothal ring, which must be fashioned of an 
Egyptian scarab, into a glass of the precious wine called sarna, sacred to the 
sultans of Egypt and their favorite wives, the ring will be transformed into a 
golden swastika and the best of good fortune will attend upon the bride, or upon 
anyone to whom she gives the precious emblem. 

When seen in the triangle it means the Citizens National Bank of Raleigh, 
N. C, and its best wishes for your good luck. 

The Commerce Trust Company of Kansas City, Mo., gave this 
information concerning a lighthouse emblem which it adopted : 

The Commerce Trust Company of Kansas City, Mo , opened for business 
October 1, 1906, since which time we had been using our monogram, "C. T. Co.," 
but had not adopted an emblem. 

However, realizing the. value of an emblem to this institution, we announced 
our "Emblem Contest" through the local papers, offering the following cash 
prizes : 

FIRST PRIZE $25.00 

SECOND PRIZE 10.00 

THIRD PRIZE 5.00 

The contest continued from September 14th to October 19th, 1908. 

Upon the decisions of the judges, checks were mailed to the successful 
contestants. And, as a result of the general publicity we obtained from the 
contest, we consider the $40.00 well spent. 

Much interest was manifested from the beginning, and many designs were 
submitted from various parts of the United States, by young and old. 

It was a noticeable fact that very few persons have a correct conception of 
the requirements of a trademark to be used by a financial institution. That is, 
its commercial value, as well as the dignity it should maintain for the bank, is 
not given the necessary attention. Too many consider their design from the 
standpoint of the artistic and the beautiful, rather than with the idea of com- 
mercialism, in exploiting its institution. 

We believe that, in the selection of the "Light House," we have an emblem, 



266 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 





SURPLUS *2,5O0,00G. 



fTTLOU^ 




BANK EMBLEMS 267 

so suggestive of safety, carefulness, etc., that it would be impossible to excel it 
among the designs received. Therefore, as an adjunct to the Publicity Depart- 
ment of the Commerce Trust Company, it will be one of the best advertising 
features that any emblem could make for us. 

Mr. C. B. Hazlewood, an officer of the Union Trust Company, 
Chicago, says: 

The value of a trade-mark cannot be too strongly emphasized. This is es- 
pecially true when a bank is located in a large city where the general public is 
not likely to know one bank from another except if there is something distinctive 
about the bank that will stick in their minds. We have used a trade-mark for 
about two years and we believe that we have capitalized it through advertising 
so that it is now worth real money to us. We put it on every piece of printing 
and advertising Ave get out. I believe that its value to us can be proven by re- 
lating this incident. 

A little while ago I asked one of our old customers, who is well known in 
the advertising business, how long he had seen our trade-mark. "Well," he said, 
"you have not been using it as long as most people would naturally think you 
have. I should say you have not been using it more than six years." "Yes," I 
said, "not more than two." 

That there is considerable advertising value in a good slogan is well 
known. Here is a trio of good bank slogans : 

"The Bank That Service Built," Seaboard National Bank, New 
York City. 

"In the National Union There Is Strength," National Union Bank 
of Maryland, Baltimore. 

"The Bank That Helps the Man Who Helps Himself," Com- 
mercial Bank and Trust Co., Wenatchee, Wash. 

Many banks in their slogans endeavor to incorporate some feature 
which will identify their name and location in the minds of the public. 
For this purpose, such slogans as the following are used: "The Bank 
with the Gold Dome/' "The Bank with the Pillars," "Opposite the 
Post Office," "The Bank with the Town Clock." There is even one 
which uses the slogan, "The Building with the Green Window Bars." 



CHAPTER VIII 

INVESTMENT, REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE 
ADVERTISING 

INVESTMENTS 

THE Liberty Loan and War Savings campaigns of the Govern- 
ment assisted by the banks and investment houses during and 
following the war were a great stimulus to investment adver- 
tising. They created millions of new savers and investors in this coun- 
try while demonstrating the value of modern advertising methods in 
marketing sound securities. The good results are still being felt as 
evidenced by the specimens of recent investment advertising in current 
general magazines reproduced herewith. 

Many banks and trust companies since the war have established 
investment departments and are doing their best to educate their cus- 
tomers and the general public as to what kind of investments to buy 
and what to avoid. They are doing much to combat the get-rich-quick 
promoters who are constantly trying to separate the unwary from their 
savings with promises of unusually high returns on their money. 
There has been not a little co-operative effort along these lines. 

The fake investment promoter is coming out of his lair where he 
retired during the war. Despite the watchfulness of the authorities, 
it is likely that a good many unwary investors are losing their savings 
on the chance of making a "killing" in the oil company which has 
more water than oil in it, or in some other "promising" proposition. 
Ponzi of Boston is languishing in jail, but there are others who are 
willing to take a chance and advertise for ' ' suckers. ' ' 

Banks have an opportunity to perform a valuable public service 
now by using some of their advertising space in the newspapers to 
warn the public against such schemes. An advertisement directly re- 
ferring to such things once in a while would be all right but it is 
also possible to do good constructive work by running such general 
investment counsel and "consult-your-banker" advertisements as those 
produced herewith of the National Union Bank of Baltimore, Mary- 
land; the Northwestern National Bank, Minneapolis; the Harris Trust 
and Savings Bank, Chicago ; and the National Bank of the Republic, 
Salt Lake City. 

268 



BANK EMBLEMS 



269 




Each 0/ the 


fourteen 


officer, of th 


i itrong 


national banl 




liihed in ISm. ha, ipent 


all whale ba. 


„.« lite 


in the work of 




barking. Thi, 


mean, a 






eoery known 


buiinet, 


aroblem. 






Specialists 
in Finance 



"This business puzzles me completely. As my bankt 
will you advise me just what to do? I have come to consider you r 
financial specialists." 

Have you any knotty problems for us to solve? 

The Northwestern National Bank I 



ENim:siA»r i 
anid I>y GOOD jrjDGMRJT. Unwarranted «rjtnustosm 
times jli&astrona — particulaf'y 60 if the propositioD you are "carried 
away" with-feivolvtes ail investment of money. 

Sound Business Advice 
Is Valuable 

To boBiieos, ererj proposition sboald fee The National B*nit at the Repufclio is lutrf- 

weigbed with e»ution, bo tested by sound esied in ill of it* depositor*:' it ii re»dj 

Von m.j have satisfied yourself that ft cor- , b ' MM ° f """" tIptntan ,nd JuapntBl. 

tain business tenlure is safe nod full of ricn If .J°q need pooevicTlhe accoapliilimeDt 

possibilities; it mil J 1 "looL good"— BUT— °t 50m * mehtoriour enterprise eonjieVted 

men of rider eiponcn'oc. miS^^CslT^lidr^^n^ 



National Bank of the Republic 

'". -7vl v l'.. r i '-",'»•- Main 'and Second Soutt ™ JI ; ,VVCu.\"J,ii' ( iv.r 



"Consult your banker" copy 

In one of its advertising booklets, the Savings Department of the 
Continental & Commercial Banks of Chicago, says : 

"It is yonr privilege as one of our depositors to discuss with us 
your financial problems, and we hold ourselves in readiness to consider 
them and give you our best advice in confidence. Undoubtedly our 
knowledge and experience would be of benefit to you in many circum- 
stances as it has been to thousands of others whom we have helped 
to save and make more money. ' ' 

In a newspaper advertisement, the American State Bank of Scotts 
Bluff, Nebraska, said : 

"In these days of abnormal conditions the bank is in a position to 
help you in a number of ways. If you have a surplus of money on 
hand you should consult your banker as to how best to invest it ; do not 
"get caught" on the stock-selling schemes that are going the rounds. 



270 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 



$100 BONDS 
For Small Investors 

■Iotoib bondi kmcd in denomination, of HOO tnd »0O. 

Wisconsin Power, Light & Heat Company 



Wisconsin Valley Electric Company 



What Is A Bond? 



THE BOND 3 

An ideal Security for —*+* 



First National Bank .gSSSSSS slisssin 



Short Time Investments 



Texas Power & Lt Co. 



Germania National Bank 



BOND DEPARTMENT 



For Small Investors 

For those of limited means safety i 




HALSEIr^TU^RT & CO. 



How Much Do You Pay 
Yourself ou Pay Day? 



John E. De Wolf Company 



The Selection 

OF 

A Proper Investment 

Jor youf individual Deeds,' 
can best be obtained, by se- 
lecting a financial institu- - 
tion of experience, and one 
which offers a large list of 
securities to choose from. 

Our wide selection gives 
investors of-every class what 
we believe to be the most 
carefully investigated con- 
servative investments, suit- 
able to every individual need. 

BOND DEPARTMENT 

Second Ward Savings Bank 

MILWAUKEE 



F. A. BARTLETT CO. 

Investment Bonds 
500 1st NATIONAL BANK BUILDING 

TELEPHONE MAIN 448 



Did Yod Ever Clip a Coupon? 



SAFE BONDS pay from 4%-67» 

and you' may buy'them in 

$50, $100, $500 and $1,000 pieces 

on our 

Partial Payment Plan 

$5 will start yon on a $50 Bond. 
$5 a month will enable you to 

clip a coupon in Jess .than 

a year, 

ASK H>R COKTIUCT-STAKT VOW 

Phono M.in 4370 

MORRIS F. FOX & CO. 

Ftnt H.UouI Bank Bid,, Milwuiln. 



War Time Investments 

^ygjjSjfe^ 5YEAR 

Wisconsin Farm Mortgage Bonds 

Wis consin Mortgage & Securities Company 

First Mortgages on Inc 
Wi.cbn.in H 



Miller, nbd ud FainUld, Title i 



BONDS 

After the establishing of a savings ai 

pendencc ifl the purchase of a $100 Don. 

- Our Bend Department has on hand £ 
all times the bonds of 



Muni. 






Coll or HV.'l. for Bond LUt it 

Wisconsin Trust Company 

.Milwaukee Wisconsin 



PAINE, WEBBER & CO. 

INVESTMENT BONDS 



TEL. MAIN 3536 



94-98 MICHIGAN ST. 



MERCHANTS & MANUFACTURERS BANK 

214-220 WEST WATER ST. 

ALL the knowledge gained by our years of experience 
Is at your disposal in tho purchase of a bond. Our 



Co-operative bond advertising 



Our city and county has already sent out too much money on fake 
schemes of various kinds and this money, will never come back. ' ' 

The Dollar Savings & Trust Company and the First National Bank, 
of Youngstown, Ohio, got out a 12-page illustrated booklet entitled, 
"Gold Bricks." Following is an extract from it under the subhead 
of ' ' Banks and Gold Bricks ' ' : 

"If people did not wish to be fooled they could easily escape a 



INVESTMENT, REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE 271 

gold brick epidemic. By merely calling at a bank they conld find out 
whether a stock or security is worthless or not. The bank is a specialist 
in investigating. This is one of its principal lines of activity. It 
has the best facilities for obtaining complete and exact information. 
It is the natural place for any customer who wants to make an in- 
vestment to go for information and, if desired, advice. But nine 
people out of ten go elsewhere. 

"Banks always want their customers to prosper and bankers never 
advise their customers to make an investment where the chances of loss 
are great. Nine people out of ten know that if they go to their 
banker he will advise them not to buy bad securities and for this 
very reason they do not ask their banker's advice. They know too 
well that their banker is a solemn individual who will scatter the 
rainbow mists that surround gold bricks without a tremor and bare 
the ugly skeleton of loss behind without the flutter of an eyelash. 
Bankers have a brutally outright way of pointing out unpleasant 
truths. They really are rather stupid. They fail to understand that 
there is a pleasurable excitement in thinking you have a chance to get 
rich quick even when you know you haven't. They fail to realize 
that nothing is more trying than to be told you are foolish, especially 
when you yourself are almost sure it is true. ' ' 

Savings Union Bank and Trust Company, San Francisco, used 
this advertisement to urge sound investment : 

SAVE AND HAVE 

Saving requires no technical knowledge, no large capital. It requires only 
the will to save and the character to keep at it. 

Investment follows saving. Banks, trust companies and savings hanks have 
made it easy to invest. 

Thrift is essential to individual success. It is the foundation of the power 
of nations. It is today absolutely vital to the welfare of the American people. 

The future of the United States after the war will be more secure if every 
American will spend carefully, save carefully and invest carefully. 

A vast amount of work is being done by associations, vigilance com- 
mittees and individuals in curbing and suppressing fraudulent finan- 
cial advertising. The results already accomplished are most gratify- 
ing and must work out ultimately to the material advantage of both 
finance and advertising. Advertising men who have followed the mat- 
ter closely are of the opinion that the desired end could be hastened 
if the real, solid, substantial banking and financial institutions put 
more force and virility into their advertising. Too much of this 
financial advertising is of the passive type — dignified and in "good 
form," but utterly passive. Banking is a large part of the backbone 
of our national confidence and touches intimately the life of every 



272 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OP BANK ADVERTISING 





?5k Christmas Hkgic of 
High ©rait .Securities 

HE Wise Men of today give Christmas presents that 
do not fade from memory. A good security is the most 
substantial of Christmas tokens. Its value is perennial. 
It is like the magic purse of the fairy tale, in which a 
new coin appeared to take the place of every com withdrawn. 
The maturing interest of a pnme security serves as a yearly 
reminder of the sensible, handsome generosity of the giver. 
Some bonds are due in a few years; others have many years 
to run. For example, there are $ 1 000 bonds which pay $50 
interest each year for as long as 50 years — a total of $2500 in 
addition to payment of the principal. What a gift for a mem- 
ber of the family, for a friend, for a business associate. 

The National City Company can provide you with securi- 
ties of highest character, ideal for Christmas gifts, gathered 
carefully by experts from among the world's best government, 
municipal, public utility, railroad, industrial, and realty issues. 

At any of our more than 50 correspondent offices you can 
learn just what securities would best meet the investment needs 
of the people you wish to remember in this considerate and far- 
manner. 
List of Offerings Sent on Request for — SB-113 

The National City Company 

National City Bank Building, New York 






A National 
INVESTMENT -SERVICE 
Correspondent Office* in more . 
._ than 50 Cilia conne 
^S fy f&=" more than 10.000 i 



^ 



w%> 




Magazine copy for high grade securities 

individual. Therefore the appeal that banking makes to these indi- 
viduals through advertising should be couched in terms that are per- 
sonal, intimate, virile and definite. This is not a new thought. The 
principles involved have already been widely adopted, but the faster 
the idea spreads the more certain will be the doom of the fraudulent 
folk. 

Both the magazine publishers and the bond houses are rendering a 
valuable service to the public in spreading information as to the na- 
ture of sound investments, and it is hoped they will continue their 
efforts, for something should be done by high-grade publications reach- 



INVESTMENT, REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE 273 

ing the general public to point out the value of safe investments as 
against the purchase of stocks of the "get-rich-quick" variety. 

Good bond advertising is of direct benefit to the entire field of high- 
grade investment securities as well as to all banks and financial insti- 
tutions. Enormous sums have been lost by men and women through- 
out the land through ignorance of the true principles of investment. 
The only way apparently to protect these people is to educate them on 
the subject. This will serve to restrain savings and other bank de- 
positors from making hasty withdrawals for the purpose of "invest- 
ing" in something that will probably result in a loss of their savings. 
At the same time, by the dissemination of sound information respect- 
ing investments by the leading banks and bond houses, the wealthier 
investors are also led to favor banks when seeking investments, thus 
materially broadening the field for the sale of such securities. 

Every year an enormous amount of money is sunk in speculation 
and unsound investments, and this money is supplied to a large extent 
by those least able to afford its loss. For the person who has not accu- 
mulated a considerable surplus the only wise course is to save and en- 
trust his savings to a well-managed bank or trust company. When a 
sufficient fund has been accumulated to justify the saver to become an 
investor, he should, especially at the beginning, invest only after con- 
sulting with his banker or through a bond house of recognized 
standing. 

Banks and investment houses which have introduced Income Tax 
departments to aid their depositors and clients are finding that service 
in this direction is enabling them, to build up good lists of actual and 
prospective investors to be followed up and given an opportunity to 
buy good bonds or other investments from time to time. 

To be most successful, the investment advertiser requires: 

Expert acquaintance with all the facts relating to the investments 
offered ; 

Thorough knowledge of human nature ; and 

The power of confidence-inspiring presentation of the facts. 

The character of the investment, and the strength, organization 
and prestige of the house offering it are important. But, these things 
being equal, the house that does the best advertising will do the most 
business. 

This has been proved so conclusively by actual results that it may 
be accepted as an established fact. 

It is equally axiomatic that the old-fashioned card announcement 
style of advertising will not bring results, especially in competition 
with modern advertising methods which most investment advertisers 
are now using. 



274 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

Preparing investment advertising is particularly hard because the 
advertiser is asking the reader to turn over to him a portion of his 
hard-earned, or, at least, much cherished, money, possibly without giv- 
ing anything immediately tangible in return. 

The obvious course for the investment advertiser, then, is to work 
to inspire two things in the mind of the prospective investor — a strong 
belief that it will be to his advantage to make the proposed investment, 
and the utmost confidence in the one offering the investment. 

The first step is to make it very clear to the man with money to 
invest that when he invests wisely he does not part with his money, but 
merely puts it where it will work and earn for its owner. 



PARAGRAPHS FOR INVESTMENT ADVERTISING 

It is the lesson of experience to realize that the more you eliminate chance from 
your investments the better off you will be in the long run. 

Our mortgages are a splendid example of a conservative investment. From 
them you get not only a good return on your money, but what is more important, 
absolute safety. 

Your peace of mind is to a great extent dependent upon the safety of your 
capital. 

Any time you have money is the time to buy mortgages. 

There is no class of investors which would not find it beneficial to have at least 
some money in our mortgages. 

Do not gain experience at the cost of a depleted capital. If you buy our mort- 
gages you eliminate the consequences of mistakes or changing conditions in con- 
nection with your investments. 

Some people can afford to speculate just as they can afford a yacht or an opera 
box. Speculation is a luxury. Is it one you can afford? 

Put at least some of your money in our mortgages and know the comfort of an 
investment from which risk is eliminated. 

Our mortgages would be a good investment for your money or for trust funds 
in your care. 

Our mortgages make investing an exact science as far as you are concerned. 

There is one sure way to make money and that is to save your income. It 
does not help much, however, if you save your income and lose your principal. 
You can bo sure of both principal and income if you invest in good mortgages. 

It is true generally that the greatest financial risks are taken by those who can 
least afford a loss. 






INVESTMENT, REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE 275 

Our mortgages are beyond the reach of disturbing influences. Their principal 
is absolutely safe and the income — paid on the day due — is higher than any 
other tax free, gilt-edge security. They are investments you can safely make 
and recommend to your friends. 

Follow the example of successful financiers and invest at least some of your 
money where it is absolutely safe. 

Don't forget that a large return for a short time, spent as it comes in, is a poor 
consolation when the principal is beyond recall. 

The more you have invested in our mortgages the more you can be sure is safe 
and the income will be larger than from any other investment equally safe. 

If you advise the purchase of our mortgages there is no possibility that you 
will have to apologize for your advice. There can be no loss of principal and 
the income is paid the day it is due. 

How often have you wished to get out of some investment without a loss? There 
is no speculation in our mortgages. You always get what you expect. 

Those who wish to use your money for their speculation will promise nearly 
everything you demand. 

Don't buy anything that promises you more than a fair and reasonable return. 
Be suspicious of investments which promise too much. 

Make your money work for you, but do not set it a dangerous task. Do not 
try to make it bring more than it can earn, for then you are putting it in such 
peril that it may be lost. Neither let it be idle because being unemployed it 
will waste away. 

There is no end of investments that you ought to make. You can find out 
what they are, at your expense, by trying them one at a time. Your final de- 
cision will be to let speculation alone. 

If you make an unfortunate investment you have bought experience, and it has 
cost the amount of your loss. 

If you make investments only occasionally you cannot afford to make mistakes 
as one unfortunate experience may cause the loss of a large proportion of your 
capital. 

When you become a customer of our Bond Department you will have the invest- 
ment experience of this bank at your service. Our officers will be glad to review 
your lists of investments and advise you that they may be suited to your needs 
and sufficiently diversified. Because it is our policy to offer to our customers 
only such securities as we are willing to include in our own investments, you 
will find in our current offerings — sent to you on request — a carefully selected 
list of securities which we are buying for our own account. 

Abe you one of those people who will have to die at the "right time" so that 
your family will not be left in poverty? In other words, are you taking such 



276 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

risks with your money that your experience and management are necessary to 
keep it safe? 

If you own good mortgages and tell your family about them you may be doing 
that which will keep them from want after you are gone. They are safe invest- 
ments for you and will be safe for them. 

When you choose investments you undoubtedly have in mind that your experi- 
ence and management add to their safety. But if something happened to you 
would they be safe investments under the management of your wife? 

Many people buy our mortgages because as they put it they "can no longer afford 
to take chances." They had their lesson — what is more — profited by it. 

No responsibility is required to make a promise, but sometimes considerable 
responsibility is required to fulfill one. 

Have you not made investments that seemed attractive at first, but did not turn 
out as well as you expected? Every time you buy a good first mortgage you pro- 
tect yourself against just such disappointments, usually another name for losses. 

In good times and bad our mortgages appeal to such investors as deem the safety 
of principal of supreme importance. 

We specialize in bonds of the highest grade, suitable for National, State and 



With the opening of the New Year you usually consider most carefully how to 
invest your surplus money. It is hard to find a small investment that will pay 
a good rate of interest and yet be safe. 

Through our experience and careful investigation by experts we are able to 
offer you the service that is needed by every investor, and are at all times glad 
to furnish investors with any information they may desire. 

Our mortgage certificates are mortgages in safety and bonds in convenience. 
They are the latest development in mortgage lending. 

If you have funds to invest at once, or if you wish to lay aside a few dollars each 
year to create definite capital for a certain time, let us tell you about our bonds, 
and the business upon which they are based. 

There may be safe investments that pay more than 5 per cent., but it means a 
good deal to you to have your money earn as much as that without causing you 
any care or worry. 

This tremendous, resistless advance in values supplies at once the two essentials 
of the ideal investment — sound security and demonstrated earning power. 

We act as the purchaser's representative and secure for him those investment 
securities best suited to his particular needs. 

These securities combine the attractive investment features of dependable secur- 
ity — substantial income — marketability — scientific distribution of funds — and the 
maximum of convenience. 

The wise investment of money is not simply a question of safety; nor, on the 
other hand, is it merely a matter of income. It is in reality a combination of 
the two. 



INVESTMENT, REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE 277 

Our service is more than just simply buying and selling bonds. We rigidly 
investigate every bond issue that we buy, in order to assure ourselves of the 
safety of the security that we offer to you. 

Which counts most — The comfort of knowing that your funds are safely and 
wisely invested, or the anxiety of hazarding the savings of years in the futile 
search of a short cut to fortune? 

Every bond we offer for sale has been purchased outright by us. Every bond 
we own has withstood the most exacting reliability tests that our organization 
of specialists knows how to apply. 

Why lose income by your delay in purchase of securities? If undecided why 
not get the opinion of those whose business it is to know about securities? 

We have at all times investment bonds of the soundest type. It will pay you 
well to investigate our standing and then become acquainted with us personally. 

This is a conservative and safe investment you should be familiar with now. 

Our bond offerings are of unquestionable quality and the yields afforded are as 
high as can be had without risk. 

If you have money to invest — no matter how large or small may be the amount — 
and feel the need of prudent advice, we shall be glad to give you the benefit of 
our experience in the investment banking business. 

What you do with your surplus is no less important than the accumulating of 
it. Wrongly invested, it may be of more harm than benefit to you. 

Conservative investors realize the necessity of investing only in securities recom- 
mended by reliable and experienced banking firms. 

No purchaser has ever lost a dollar of principal or interest on a mortgage pur- 
chased of us. 

The actual cash investment in the property back of this investment is nearly 
two and a half times the outstanding bonds. 

Solid security, substantial income, marketability, diversity and convenient form 
— a model investment. 

Investors lose interest waiting to find a mortgage that exactly suits in amount 
and location — also while the title is being searched. 

In making investments not only the tangible property and the earnings of the 
companies behind bond issues must be considered, but the future growth of the 
territory in which these companies operate, must be assured. 

While safety should be the fundamental consideration, it can be carried to such 
an extreme as to unnecessarily limit the earning power of the invested capital. 

Just now the shareholders in many corporations are worried about their future 
dividends and anxious over the great declines in the quoted values of their stocks. 



278 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

But bondholders are as serene as ever. Their holdings have fallen but little in 
price and the coupons are being paid like clockwork. 

In the purchase of bonds for investment it is essential that the investor either 
look very carefully into the security of the bond or rely on the judgment and 
reputation of the banking house making such an offering. 

When you are ready to be free from the anxiety of stocks and variable dividends 
let us hear from you. We will tell you about bonds that are safe and interest 
that is certain. 

No difference how much you may have to invest — first, be assured that your funds 
are permanently safe. 

A good many investors overlook the importance of the service which a careful 
and conservative investment organization is able to render them. 

The holder of a bond is protected by an absolute lien on permanent assets worth 
much more than the amount of the loan. 

The one huge fortune-builder that dwarfs all other sources of wealth is real 
estate. 

Next to Federal, State and Municipal securities, the bonds of corporations sup- 
plying public necessities afford the safest investments. 

The certainty of a moderate, but sure, income is much better than the possibility 
of greater returns with the probability of loss of the entire principal. 

If you have $100, or $1,000, or more, it is imperative to find for it the best 
possible employment consistent with safety. If you desire to create capital from 
surplus income you must invest systematically and safely. 

If you have only a modest fund, by all means be satisfied with the safety of a 
good, strong mortgage or bond, which is certain at all times to be worth its 
original cost to you. 

Fab too many people, for the sake of one or two per cent, of interest more than 
is commensurate with safety, place their entire "principal at hazard. 

We investigate minutely and buy outright the bonds we offer. We can, there- 
fore, honestly recommend them to you. 

So many investors hold seasoned railroad bonds that a broad market has been 
established, assuring a ready sale at any time. 

We believe that our bonds are as marketable as the average listed issue. Under 
normal conditions, we have always been able to furnish our clients a satisfactory 
market for our securities. 

It is always wise to purchase through responsible dealers who have proper fa- 
cilities for expert investigation, successful experience upon which to base their 
judgment, and a reputation to maintain for reliable recommendations. 



INVESTMENT, REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE 279 

A good bond is the safest form of investment and is absolutely non-speculative. 

There are securities which sell at prices much above their real value because 
everybody knows them to be good investors who do not want to take the trouble 
to investigate are willing to pay extra for them. 

It is better to go to experienced investment brokers and get advice. You can 
make more and still be perfectly safe. 

Owning a bond, you own actual property. For convenience a trustee holds the 
title, but it is held for you. The corporation issuing the bond must pay the 
interest and repay the principal, or the mortgage guaranteeing the bond is fore- 
closed and the property passes to the bondholder. 

In choosing bonds you need the advice of experts. Our knowledge and experi- 
ence along this line are at your command. 

We have some very good bond offerings at present. 

Well chosen bonds are secured by property guaranteeing your investment, dollar 
for dollar, and interest beside. 

Every wise investor will place at least a portion of his surplus in a safe, non- 
speculative investment of this character. 

Trustees, guardians, executors, administrators — those having charge of trust 
funds, have special reason to exercise the utmost discretion in choosing invest- 
ments. 

An important thing to be considered in choosing an investment is the readiness 
with w r hich you can get back your principal when you want it. There are times 
when you need ready cash. Indeed, to have all your funds "slow assets" might 
mean disaster some times. 

A wise choice of investments cannot usually be made entirely upon your own 
judgment. When it comes to placing out your own money or funds left in your 
charge to earn an income, it pays to get the best advice. 

A single poor investment may cause you more loss than you gain by a dozen 
good ones. 

What you do with your surplus is no less important than the accumulating of 
it. Wrongly invested, it may become of more harm than benefit to you. 

The safety of bonds is pretty generally understood. But when it comes to the 
choice of any particular bond for your own investment, unless you have had a 
great deal of experience along this line, you naturally desire expert opinion and 



Specialists in investment are needed by those who specialize in other lines and 
cannot therefore be expected to have a thorough knowledge of how best to put 
their money out at interest. 



280 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

Safety, convenience and relatively high return — these are all very desirable 
qualities, every one of which is to be found in the bond investments handled by 
this bank. 

Majnty so-called "investments" are in reality nothing but speculations. The per- 
son who puts money into them is not sure of any definite income from them. 

It is the part of wisdom to have your money invested in different ways, but you 
can safely have a large part of your resources in good bonds. 

As the buyer and seller of thousands of bonds, this bank has acquired in its long 
history a valuable fund of knowledge and experience which it freely places at 
the disposal of the clients of its Bond Department. 

Confidence is the bedrock upon which successful investment is built — confidence 
in the proposition and in the persons offering it. 



REAL ESTATE 

The man who handles real estate has one of the best propositions 
in the world to advertise. 

Land is something real, tangible, substantial, It is the founda- 
tion of all wealth — a fundamental necessity. Everybody has to live 
somewhere, and everybody — whether owner or renter — must pay 
something, either directly or indirectly, for the privilege of using part 
of the earth to live on. 

Therefore, the field before the real estate man is as broad as hu- 
manity itself. The arguments that he can use in his advertising are 
such as touch intimately the daily life and necessities of the great mass 
of people. 

Millions of dollars are spent annually in real estate advertising. 
Much of this amount is wasted because of lack of originality and 
modern methods of following up prospects. 

Nowhere has real estate advertising reached such a high devel- 
opment as in New York City. Before the war it had reached enormous 
proportions. For several years it has been very quiet in real estate 
circles, but now, with the great demand for homes there are signs of 
a revival. So a study of the advertising methods of the typical New 
York suburban real estate company, in the halcyon antebellum days, 
therefore, may be profitable for real estate advertisers everywhere. 

With the New York real estate companies the first step is to get 
inquiries, that is, the names of persons who are interested enough 
in any particular surburban property to write asking for advertising 
literature and further information. 



INVESTMENT, REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE 281 

Most of such inquiries are received as the result of advertising in 
the newspapers and magazines. A plan commonly used was to adver- 
tise to send handsomely illustrated literature or an interesting real 
estate magazine free. Several companies made a specialty of their 
monthly house organs, which really were of considerable interest and 
value, containing, in addition to the selling articles, much well written 
matter on New York real estate in general. Of course, a specialty 
was made of maps and illustrations from actual photographs of the 
property and its surroundings. 

These house organs, while the backbone of the follow-up cam- 
paign, were by no means the only printed matter used. Immense 
quantities of special circulars, mailing cards and form letters went 
out constantly, containing special offers and announcements of cur- 
rent events having a bearing upon the increase in real estate values 
around New York — such as the completion of tunnels, subways, bridges 
and other public improvements. 

In the typical case where the prospective buyer lived at a distance 
from New York and was unable to go to see the property, this was 
the course from inquirer to buyer : 

The person saw an attractive advertisement in the newspaper or 
magazine. It offered something for nothing — a magazine on New 
York real estate, in which he was already more or less interested. He 
said to himself: "I might as well get that. It doesn't cost anything 
and puts me under no obligation." So he filled out the coupon and 
mailed it to the company. 

As soon as his name was received at the office of the real estate 
company it was copied on a card and went into an alphabetically and 
geographically arranged "prospect" file. The inquirer received a 
form letter with his name and address filled in. This letter acknowl- 
edged the receipt of his request for the magazine, said that it would 
be sent him promptly, and briefly called attention to the special real 
estate propositions that the company was handling. 

The first number of the house organ arrived in due time and was 
read with interest by the prospect. It contained several general real 
estate articles and one or two selling articles which concluded with 
a coupon order blank. 

The prospect was interested, but unless he was unusually suscep- 
tible, probably was not thoroughly convinced. Possibly it took the 
reading of two, three or a half dozen issues of the house organ to con- 
vince the prospect that he ought to buy the particular land that the 
company was selling. 

The articles in the magazines bearing upon the sub-division prop- 



282 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF RANK ADVERTISING 

erty described it fully in such details as : Location, railroad facilities, 
healthfulness of climate and surroundings, industries, population, 
statistics of growth, schools, churches, stores, natural attractions of the 
vicinity, etc. 

The buying plan was very carefully explained, particular empha- 
sis being put upon the fact that the lots could be bought on the in- 
stalment plan of a few dollars down and a few dollars a month. The 
reader was told very clearly and definitely what he must do to buy 
a lot. 

Promptness of action was urged because prices were going up, the 
best lots were being taken and this opportunity could not last in- 
definitely. 

A time limit is a good thing in any real estate offer. ' ' For thirty 
days only," if hammered into the minds of prospective buyers, will 
make them "step lively" if they are in the market at all for what 
you are offering them. Placing a limit of time within which a cer- 
tain thing must be done makes it more likely that the thing will be 
done because it forces the mind to a decision. 

It is a difficult thing for many persons to decide to take some action 
even after they are convinced that it is the proper course to pursue. 
We are all more or less mentally lazy and act more surely under press- 
ure or upon the spur of a real or imagined necessity. 

But to return to our New York suburban real estate campaign. 
When the prospect had been thoroughly inspired with confidence in 
the proposition and has full knowledge concerning Ihe property and 
the terms, he was quite likely to buy if he was really in earnest when 
he began to investigate. 

In case the inquirer was a resident of New York or lived within 
a few miles of the city so that he could easily visit the property 
different methods were pursued with him. The effort was not so 
much to sell to him direct by mail, but to induce him to make the trip 
to the property and see for himself just what it was, and it was left 
for the company's representatives on the ground to close the sale if 
possible. Free automobile rides or refunding of railroad fare were 
special inducements made to get people to visit the property. 

It was the aim of the advertiser to make his argument so strong 
and compelling that the reader would do something definite whether 
it was to sign the coupon and send the first payment or to decide to 
go and visit the property. 

Buying a piece of real estate is not as simple a matter as buying 
a suit of clothes. It is not done hastily, as a rule. So that a pretty 
thorough presentation of the case must be made before a sale is effected. 
For that reason and because advertising space in the New York news- 



INVESTMENT, REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE 283 

papers and the general magazines is expensive, real estate concerns 
rarely attempt to sell direct from the advertisement. 

Experiments have been made along that line, but the results have 
been so poor that such a course is rarely attempted now. The author 
knows of an .instance where a full page ad. with coupon order blank 
was run in the most expensive newspaper in New York. This was 
an experiment and it was a failure. The returns did not come any- 
where near paying for the advertisement. 

The gist of the lesson taught by actual experience is that the 
wisest way to do is to use fairly large space in good mediums to get 
inquiries and then follow these up hard by personal solicitation, let- 
ters, circulars and every other approved method of direct advertising, 
and if there is one thing more than another that needs to be blazoned 
on the banner of every real estate advertiser, or that is worthy of a 
place alongside the " Do it now ' ' motto over his desk it is this : TELL 
THE TRUTH. 

No other policy pays in the long run and nothing else is right at 
any time. You must have faith in the property you are advertising 
and then you can the more easily transmit your faith to others. 

In advertising to homeseekers there is little danger of having 
the advertisement too long because buying a home is such a big event 
in the life of most families that the members will read everything 
you say if they think that it may help them in a choice of a home. 

But there is danger of making a long story prolix and involved. 
Clearness is essential in a successful advertisement. 

At the same time, it is not necessary or desirable to tell your 
whole story in the advertisement. An opening should be left for 
the reader to make inquiries about the property, as that is the first 
step toward real business. 

The descriptive booklet is the piece de resistance <of most campaigns 
because it must be depended upon to convince the prospect and turn 
him into a customer. 

There is a distinction between a real esate dealer and a real estate 
broker, and there is likewise some difference in their advertising 
methods. 

The broker, as a rule, does not buy property himself, but merely 
acts for others on a commission basis. He handles valuable income- 
producing or high-class residence property rather than suburban sub- 
divisions. 

The class of investors to whom the broker in this kind of real 
estate appeals can not be influenced to any great extent by the senti- 
mental arguments that are often effective with homeseekers, for in- 
stance. 



284 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

One of the chief objects of the real estate man is to build up a 
clientele — to secure and hold customers who have entire confidence 
in him and will place all their real estate business in his hands. 

The broker does not need to advertise for sellers. They come of 
their own accord, but he does need to advertise for buyers. The 
higher priced the property to be sold, the more advertising it takes 
to sell it, and the more it will pay to advertise it. 

The copy best suited to sell high class property is full of informa- 
tion and the most important information is the price. 

Special lists of possible buyers of real estate can be obtained by 
watching the names in the real estate transfers published in the news- 
papers. Personal letters making a definite proposition ought to be 
productive when sent to regular buyers, but a personal visit is better 
than a letter because it leads to an acquaintance which may result in 
business advantage later on, if not at once. 

Attorneys are also good prospects for the real estate broker, 
because they are not only speculators in real estate themselves some- 
times, but they have many among their clients who are. 

There are three ways in which the real estate broker can use the 
daily newspapers — in "liners," "spaced liners," or display ads. 
Experience shows that "classified" real estate ads. pay best in the 
morning papers, because the business man reads his morning paper 
for facts and figures. 

Spaced liners are better than liners because they are more notice- 
able and also because they usually are placed near the top of the 
column, giving the ad. the preference over notices further down. 

The Sunday newspapers have proved most effective for display 
advertising,' as the Sunday issues are read more leisurely than busi- 
ness day issues, and they generally carry a lot of real estate and build- 
ing news. 

The real estate sign board is a useful form of advertising because 
it serves to keep the name of the firm before the public and gives 
occasion for the making of inquiries by persons interested. The 
dealer should adopt a uniform and individual design, which will 
crystallize his advertising and give him a trademark, as it were. It 
will be found a good will producer. 

In real estate advertising the very first object in most cases is to 
induce the prospective buyer to see the property. If you can do 
that, then it remains for the merits of your proposition itself and the 
selling ability of your salesman to close the deal. 

But sometimes possible purchasers live so far away that it is im- 
possible for them to visit the property personally. Then the story 



INVESTMENT, REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE 285 

must be told so fully and convincingly in the advertising matter that 
the person interested will feel that he is just as safe in dealing with 
you at a distance as he would be face to face. 

One of the most important things to be kept in mind in real 
estate, as in all classes of advertising, is that confidence must be in- 
spired before you can do business with anybody. 




Insure Your Insurance 

IF you name the Rhode Island Hospital Trust 
Company as beneficiary of your life insurance in 
trust for your wife and children, or others, we 
will collect the money, carefully invest it and pay 
out the income at stated intervals to the persons 
named by you in the trust agreement. 

The "life insurance trust" method is a particularly 
good one for you to use if you want absolute 
assurance that your heirs will be free from financial 
perplexities or want. We shall be glad to talk over 
this method with you. 

Rhode Island 
Hospital Trust Company 



Insuring insurance 

And telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth 
in your advertising is the best way to do it. Depend for effectiveness 
in your advertising upon the strong, compelling way in which you 
present the truth, not upon any distortion of facts or high coloring of 
the truth. Be authoritative, not supplicating. 

Testimony of satisfied clients and references as to your own char- 
acter, ability, experience and general trustworthiness, and true photo- 
graphs of the property to be sold, provide the best possible evidence 
that you and your claims are worthy of the confidence of those you 
are trying to interest in your real estate. 



286 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

And after an advertisement has "pulled" a large number of 
visitors, if no sales follow, the fault lies either in the fact that the 
copy made unfounded statements, that the property is not good, or 
that the real estate man is a poor salesman. An advertisement which 
exaggerates is dangerous. The man who reads of a flowery paradise 
and finds a desert waste will never buy. Yet this same man, if he 
had not been led to expect too much, might have been glad to invest 
in desert property. 

REAL ESTATE TALKING POINTS 

Good talking points for real estate advertising will be found in 
the following list : 

Convenience of location. 

Healthfulness — pure air and water, good drainage. 

Pleasant surroundings. 

Transportation facilities. 

Good neighbors. 

Good climate. 

Cheapness of living. 

Public improvements — water, gas, electric light, sewers, pavements, side- 
walks, parks, boulevards, wide streets, shade trees. 

Churches, schools, art galleries, libraries, museums, stores, hotel. 

Low price of property, easy terms, discount for cash, instalment payments. 

Probability of increase in value — growth of population, new industries, new 
railroads and trolleys, prosperity of the region. 

Natural beauty and attractiveness, nearness of recreation places. 

The amount invested in the industries of the place. 

Aggregate wages paid. 

Large amount and value of products of place. 

Favorable shipping facilities. 

Best locations going quickly — "Last opportunity." 

Good home place. 

Mail delivery. 

Growth of realty values in past few years. 

Actual examples of increased value. 

Photographs of property. 

Low taxes. No taxes for a long time. 

No interest on deferred payments. 

No charge for deed. Free and perfect title guarantee. 

Property bought ahead of improvements so that low prices can be offered. 

Large demand for houses. 

Extensive house building going on. 

Building restrictions. 

Large number of lots bought by persons familiar with the property. 

Buying for children's benefit — better place in which to bring them up and 
property may make them independently rich. 

Buying real estate intelligently. 

Buying real estate on instalments compels economy and gives an object in 
life — something to work for. 

Grasping opportunities. 

Scenic attractions. 

Free railroad tickets or free automobile trip to see the property. 






INVESTMENT, REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE 287 



THE PLACE O P B' E A U T J F U I L HOMES 




THE PLAN 

■"OR the man of independent 



UXURY, culture and refinement 
.are everywhere in evidence in 
Prospect Hillr Beautiful, well 
kept homes; broad, clean, as- 
phalt streets, trees, flowers and shrubbery, all com- 
bine to make this a.place of beauty and desirable residence. 
What do these - surroundings mean to you who want 
home dwelling free from all the .unpleasant features that too 
often mar a city home? Will you still be content to. pay a 
large' rental in a less desirable location when the'same monthly 
outlay will buyyou a home In this "Piace of Beautiful 
Homes?" The Prospect Hill plan 
was devised to interest the man 

FOR the man of independent w ft can afford to r t { $40.00 to 
income, business success Snr nn ... . , , w . w lv 

$75.00 a month but who hesitates 

to spend in one amount a sum suf- 
ficient to build a house equivalent 
to that rental values 

Prospect Hill is a community of 
successful men who have built on 
the Prospect Hill plan— "builded 
better -than they knew," for the 
steadily increasing value of the 
.property has brought splendid re- 
turns. 

Resd the plan, go and look at 
the property, then let us discuss 
further details at vour office or ours. 



income, business success 
or assured salary has been 
devised a monthly payment 
plan for buying a home in Pros- 
pect Hill. This plan overcomes 
the only^argument against own- 
ing as compared with renting. 
It obviates the necessjty for in- 
vesting $3000 to $15000 in one 
sum lor a house, su'eh- as the 
renter can find for £40.00 to 
$75.00 a month. A small pay- 
ment down and the balance in 
monthly payments, about equal 
to the rental value of the proper- 
tyfbuys a home.that in ten years' 
time is fully paid for and has 
materially increased in value. 
This house will be built entire- 
ly under the owner's direction. 



Mr. John R. Goodrich, who has been identified with the 
development 0/ Prospect Hill from the beginnings- will 
furnish any further information desired. 




PROSPECT HILL LAND CO. 

JOHN R GOODRICH, Agent 

^HACKETT & HOFF 

77 MICHIGAN STREET 
A srood real estate ad. 




Public and private improvements in progress increasing value of all property 
in vicinity. 

Well-known persons who have bought lots or are building homes. 

Future of property protected. 

Prices go up on a certain date. 

Safety of investment in land combining rural and city advantages, with 
drawbacks of neither. 



288 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

Police and fire protection. 
Height above sea level. 
Nearness to large cities. 

Increase in assessed valuation of community. 
Sending maps of property upon request. 
Landscape gardening. 
Low railroad fare. 
Rent pays for home. 
Certificate of title furnished. 
The "unearned increment." 

Let the operation of a great natural law work for your benefit. 
The importance of "doing it now." 
Laying the foundation of a fortune. 
Only a small sum down needed to secure a lot. 
Large-sized lots. 
Good real estate a "live" asset. 

Non-forfeiture clause in case of lapsed instalment payments. 
Real estate the only genuinely safe investment. 
Get ahead of the masses. 
Assessors' figures. 

Make real estate your savings bank. 

Compare prices with those of similarly located property. 
Example of successful men who have invested in real estate. 
Quotations from men of prominence urging investment in realty. 
Social life. 

The foundation of all realty value is utility. That is evidenced by rent, 
which, capitalized, forms value. 

Think it over and consult with your wife. 

Advertising value of an office in a prominent building. 

Giving the children a chance in the suburbs. 

Own a house to live in, don't just rent a house to stay in. 

Experience qualifying to get best results in managing property. 

Get away from the noisy, dusty, crowded city. 



INSURANCE 

Insurance is practically indispensable now-a-days. Every person 
with an income sufficient for more than the bare necessities of life is 
a good life insurance prospect. Every property owner is a fit sub- 
ject for the attack of the energetic fire insurance agent. On account 
of this universality of appeal, therefore, there is a great deal of com- 
petition in the insurance business. ' 

Where there is competition there ought to be advertising, and as in 
every other competitive business, the better the advertising, the better 
the business. 

Personal solicitation plays a more important part in the insur- 
ance business than in almost any other line of endeavor. But good 
advertising helps the solicitor very much. In the first place, by mak- 
ing the name of his company better known through general publicity, 
and, secondly, attractive and forceful circulars, booklets and other 
printed matter provide the agent with effective ammunition for follow 



INVESTMENT, REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE 289 

HflfffT 




The 5,360 square; feet of floor space on the third floor of the 
Kinloch Building, o. * he northwest corner of Tenth and Locust („„, 
Streets, now occupied by the Lesan-Gould Advertising and Publish- - »■"» 

ing Company, is available for lease, in whole or in part. 

When, on March IS, 1906, the Lesan Advertising Company took a five-year least 
from the Kinloch Telephone Company on the entire third floor of this building it was 
thought that these spacious quarters and this excellent location would answer all require- 
ments for a long time to come. 

But the consolidation, under the name of the Lesan-Gould Company, of the Gould 
Directory Company and the Lesan Advertising Company; the addition of a printing 
plant, a form letter and addressing department, and the necessity of having all branches 
under one roof, made imperative the erection of a special building. This building will 
soon be ready— an 8-story structure on Washington Avenue, running through to St. Charles 
Street, between 13th and 14th Streets. 

, The Lesan-Gould Company will move about January 1, 1908. When it vacates ill 

A Splendid prcsent_qiMrteri a splendid location will be opened for the conduct of a business or the 

J -nirably adapted for a millinery, cloak, 

college, for a trade publication, for the 
ewclry aod novelties, for any business conducted by mail or by agents, and for 
icy are especially suitable for an architect. In fact, the location is suitable for 
y orhce, because of its nearness to bpth the wholesale and the retail districts.' 
The Kinloch Building is one of the most desirable locations in the new retail center of St. Louts, 
which is fixed by the removal of the great department store of the Scruggs- Vandervoort-Barney Dry 
Goods Company from Broadway to the new Syndicate Trust Building at 10th and Locust Streets, 
diagonally opposite the Kinloch Building. 

of Doff] wholesale and retail business in St. Louis ii irresistible. Everybody ar 



manufacture or sale 01 jewelry 
professional offices. They are 

' "aiding is 



Great I 

Activity office ten; 

Toe Kinloch Boildine;. i 



-Vandervoort-Bir 



: Kinloch Buildine- Besides the 17-srory 



A Strlctly_ Modern icet 

hjhi. "Tie buildim 



hijh^ There u lighi 

nd Olive Si 



sllwavs. >■ 8.400 » 



The 



The Lesan-Gould Company will r 



"* ' 'mH°'*So£i Sireet 
Irons ihe Post Office 






Lesan-Gould Company 

Kinloch Building Tenth and Locust Street! 



Lesan-Gould 
Company 

j053OOSq.fi: f/wr Space 

i.«.J. i....r 



To lease office space 



up arguments. Insurance solicitors are convincing* talkers. Their 
best talking-points can be put into printed form; and the message 
in many cases will get a reading where the solicitors cannot get a 
hearing. 

The Hartford Fire Insurance Company has been one of the most 
consistent and successful insurance advertisers. It has conducted 
an extensive campaign of publicity in general magazines and local 
newspapers with good results. Its newspaper advertisements are 



290 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

calculated to get definite inquiries. A coupon makes it easy for peo- 
ple to ask for a copy of a free booklet and thus provides the local 
agents of the company with a list of good live prospects, while the 
convincing booklet itself prepares the mind of the reader for the com- 
pany's proposition, putting him in a receptive attitude for the argu- 
ments of the solicitor. 

The booklet referred to is a model piece of advertising literature. 
As the preface to this booklet explains its scope and object, it is re- 
printed here : 

The Hartford Fire Insurance Company has come to believe that it owes 
a broader duty to its policy-holders than merely to furnish indemnity. It de- 
sires also to help its patrons to avoid the loss and distress which ensue when a 
fire occurs, and further, to give them useful information about fire insurance and 
the insurance contract, so that, should they be so unfortunate as to suffer from 
fire, they may nevertheless be surely recompensed so far as possible for the 
financial loss sustained. 

By its extensive and aggressive advertising the Hartford Fire 
Insurance Company is creating a demand for its policies. In a way 
it might be said, forcing the local agents to write its policies. It is 
working on the same principle as the large manufacturer who by 
extensive advertising creates a great popular demand for his goods 
— a demand which re-acts upon the dealer and results in the building 
up of a permanent trade in the commodity advertised. 

But advertising is proportionately just as good for the local agent 
as it is for the home office. There is no reason why the local agent 
should not supplement the advertising of the companies he represents 
by some strong advertising of his own, because, in the last analysis, 
the personal factor is an all important one in business, and the man 
who takes out an insurance policy likes to feel that the agent as well 
as the company is thoroughly reliable. 

It should be the ambition of every local insurance agent to make 
his name and business so well known that whenever the subject of 
insurance is brought up invariably he will be thought of in connec- 
tion with it. 

Friendship has a great deal to do with the insurance business. 
But there are limits to the effectiveness of personal influence in busi- 
ness, and the other fellow has friends likewise. The more friends 
you have the better, of course, but if you build up a prestige and get 
in touch with a large number of prospects by good advertising, you 
can multiply both the number of your friends and the effectiveness 
of their influence. 

A prominent fire insurance agency in a New England city ^some 



INVESTMENT, REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE 291 

time ago decided that it would put itself before prospects in such 
a way that they would naturally turn into that particular office when 
they were ripe for insurance of any kind. 

The mediums of advertising used were newspapers, circulars, and 
window displays. 

The advertising arguments had to do with the agency's points 
of superiority in regard to price of policies, companies represented 
and service rendered. The underwriting boards fixed universal rates 
so that the agency could not advertise to cut under them, but it could 
and did show the prospect how he could lessen the cost of his pro- 
tection by putting in fire extinguishers and taking over preventive 
measures. 

"Who carries your insurance?" was a slogan adopted to stir up 
interest in the companies represented. Investigation of the strength 
of the companies was courted. Pains were taken to show the stand- 
ing of the different companies and how they were safeguarded. Con- 
crete facts were given as to the age, resources, the vast sums paid 
out, and the promptness with which each loss had been adjusted. 

Under the head of service, the agency offered to act as insurance 
counsellor for everybody in the community, and sought interviews 
whether there was a prospect for immediate business or not. 

Among the special features of the business brought out was the 
importance of household furniture insurance. There are a large 
number of wage-earners in this city. Many of them carry no insur- 
ance on their household effects. "Cut out worry" was the argument 
used effectually with this class, stress being laid upon the fact that 
$2.50 would insure $500 worth of furniture for three years at that 
time. 

Right after a fire, cards printed in red ink were circulated in the 
neighborhood, giving rates showing exactly what insurance on $500 
and $1,000 worth of furniture would cost for a period of three or 
five years. 

The more promptly this circularizing was done after a fire the 
more effective it was found to be. 

The newspaper advertising of this agency was a general appeal. 
The circulars were specific. The window display was designed to 
excite curiosity and to get possible customers among passers-by to 
enter the office and get acquainted. 

The life insurance companies are now operating in a similarly 
broad spirit. The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company has been 
conducting a war against tuberculosis. The company began its cru- 
sade with the distribution of a book concerning the malady. It has 



292 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

chosen as a slogan "sunlight," for by this means more than by medi- 
cation tuberculosis is to be conquered. 

Millions of copies of the little book have been distributed through- 
out the United States and these tell how to care for oneself in order not 
to become infected, and also what to do for those who show symptoms 
of the disease. This company says : 

We are out on a big campaign — it is to be a concerted war to lower the death 
rate by teaching the people how to live longer and by spreading accurate in- 
formation and giving the policy holders ample assistance. 




ixteen Years of Success 

Without Agents, , 

The Postal Life Insurance Company 

Transacts Its Business 

Over-the-Counter and By -Mail 

The Only Life Insurance Company "on the Avenue'* 

The Postal Life Insurance Company sends its seventeen stories athwart' the sky at the new finan- 
cial center of New York. The new. Wall Street is at its door. It has also distinction as the Gold Medal Build- 
ing; for a Commission appointed by the Fifth Avenue Association to pass upon the construction and artisuc 
design of new buildings on the Avenue, awarded the Gold Medal to its builders. 

Insurance Economy h . as no s ? Uers ex «P t . the printed page of explanation. 

It is the Home-Office of the only life insurance 
company started at the time of the Hughes investiga- 
tion that succeeded in establishing itself. This, com- 
pany had a message of insurance economy and deliv- 
ered it: sixteen years of success tell the story. It wins 
to its patronage those who, through reading the story, 
want to buy life insurance. 

__ ^^ _ The life insurance contracts of all New York com- 

I he Unly INon- Agency Company panics contain standard provisions prescribed by 

The Postal Life operates without agents. statute. Such insurance contracts are therefore staple 
The personal representative does not work for it. It articles, and from the 

Postal Life 
Insurance Company 

Assets, $10,000,000 Annual Income, $2,000,000 Insurance in Force, $42,000,000 

they are purchased direct Before being offered to the public, POSTAL Life policy-contracts are formally ap- 
proved by the State Superintendent of Insurance. 

Dealing over the heads oflagents is an easy strategy by the POSTAL way. A discriminating public is 
learning more and more, and day by day, th» economies of its system. The good will and good words of policy- 
holders are spreading the gospel of the POSTA . Life and its economical method. 

A Fifth Avenue Institution . fZ%?>™«t*T*?7wVo?£ pr l™%; , :''° thou *^ d 

People deal with the POSTAL LIFE ''on the AveJhie" 
Tiffany's a 



i policy itself, and the prestige of i 
cess. It lays before you printed material, explanatory 
letters, and official documents (not words of mouth) ; 
also financial statements audited and submitted under 
oath to the New York State Insurance Department, 
which supervises the Company. 



Counsellor and Guide 



a 9}.-2% guaranteed dividend year I 

ion people have communicated wil 
number of these have completed th 
ay passes that many new inquirers 
: Company; and not a day passes tl 



Results are not theoreri 
who will accept unbiased 001 
problems which may be obt 
Home-Office or by writing. 



Find Out What You Can Save 



STAL LIFE HOME-OFFICE BUILDING 



Simply use the Coupon in lower right hand comer or write and say "Mall tne 
trance information as mentioned in THE. TIMES of February 13," . 
and in your letter be sure rto give 

(1) Your full name- (2) Your occupation \ TMl LUtImr , m <£?£ \ 

(3) Exact date of your birth J „,„£» W&rJftzFm, I 

When your inquiry reaches us no agent will be sent to visit you. We J IS. "■"■*'• **>*>* 

desire to co-operate with you directly, and have you think out with as your prob- ! K *"" *-' | 

lems from printed documentary matter submitted. Because we employ no agents | **"■• - •* j 

the resultant commission savings go to you. | I 

Postal Life Insurance Company l«^s^"-":?J 

WM. R. MALONE, President 

511 Fifth Ave., Cor, 43d St, New York 



It is hard for even the best solicitor to walk into an office and 
close a contract when his company is entirely unknown to the person 
canvassed. Advertising is an introduction. 

And, further, advertising uncovers prospects that the solicitor 
would never hear of. From the company's or agent's point of view, 
the ideal condition is that in which the prospect seeks the agent, rather 
than the agent the prospect. 



INVESTMENT, REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE 293 

A prominent insurance man says: "There is no question in my 
mind that proper publicity, associative, non-competitive publicity, 
can do more to write more policies, and policies for larger amounts, 
than any single agency in American life today. For the distinctive 
thing about insurance is this, that it has an established public and 
human interest — bound up as it is with the family and the home — 
which entirely takes it out of the sphere of commerce and into the 
realm of social, political and economic importance." 

INSURANCE TALKING POINTS 

Let us take your risk. 

Fair adjustment and prompt payment. 

The folly of delay. 

Insurance policies as collateral security. 

Insurance policy a friend in need. 

Only reliable agents can represent the best companies. 

Easier to pay a premium than suffer a heavy loss. 

Protecting wife and children. 

Carrying insurance fosters thrift. 

The age, assets, reserve, insurance in force, and annual income of company. 

The policy reserve required by New York State laws. 

The liberal provisions of policies offered. 

Premium rates low. Contracts simple. Management conservative. 

Reproducing in advertisement check covering a prompt payment of a large 
policy. 

Actual facts and figures showing cost and returns on a certain policy. 

Increase in benefits due to decrease of operating expenses. 

Showing how chances of fire can be reduced. 

Explain the strictness of the insurance laws and how the company complies 
with the requirements in every particular. 

Figures showing how favorably endowment policies compare with other in- 
vestments. 

Quote well known men on the wisdom of life insurance. 

The good moral and mental effects of having life insurance. 

Urge life insurance upon the newly married man. 

Show how the risks of your company are distributed geographically so that 
the conflagration hazard does not endanger its stability. 

Surrender value of policies. 

Figures showing the steady increase of the company's business over a period 
of years. 

Why having a periodic obligation to meet is a good thing for a man. 

The experience and knowledge of the officers and employes of the agency. 

Testimonials of beneficiaries regarding prompt payments of insurance money. 



CHAPTER IX 
BUILDING BANK BUSINESS BY LETTERS 

EVERY bank and trust company should build up a mailing list 
on which the names and addresses of all the best prospects 
for the institution's services are listed. Some officer of the 
bank should look personally after the compiling of the mailing list, 
or appoint some qualified subordinate to do that work. 

The bank's mailing list is very important. With a good mailing 
list, house organs, letters, enclosures and other attractive advertising 
can be placed by mail each month before every prospect on the list, 
influencing new depositors and developing the business of present 
ones. 

In preparing the bank's mailing list the first names to be used are 
those of depositors in the various departments of the bank. Lists 
should be so arranged that advertising for each department can be 
sent to the logical prospects only. 

Go over the telephone directory, local blue book and the city or 
county directory. Check prospects and place the names on the list. 

Secure lists of local labor, fraternal and social organizations. 
Watch the newspapers and secure prospects from news items. 

The registration lists, which are kept in the county clerk's office, 
furnish names of registered voters, men and women. 

Keep 3^our stockholders on the list. Write them and ask for their 
influence in gaining new lists. Where possible get lists of employees 
of local business houses. Lists of municipal employees are splendid 
savings prospects. 

The individually addressed typewritten letter, the printed "form" 
letter, and the postcard and "mail series" of circulars form one of 
the commonest means used by banks in soliciting business. The 
preparation of such matter should receive a great deal of attention 
for proper results. Such letters are just as much advertising as news- 
paper advertisements or any other form of publicity, and the prin- 
ciples of attention, interest and conviction apply here as much as in 
any other kind of advertising. 

Soliciting deposits and other business by means of letters — the di- 
rect method of advertising — is practically the only one open to many 
banks situated where there are no suitable newspapers or where news- 

294 



BUILDING BANK BUSINESS BY LETTERS 295 

paper advertising, for one reason or another, is impracticable. Some- 
times also this method is advisable where a competitor has been first 
in the field with a successful newspaper campaign. 

This form of advertising might be called elastic. The principle of 
direct appeal may be extended just as far as conditions and results 
warrant. The letters can be sent to classified lists or within certain 
neighborhoods selected for any particular campaign. Thus a city 
bank can in time reach practically every possibly productive element 
of the population in its territory with an appropriation no greater 
than an adequate newspaper campaign would require. 

Business correspondence is really a part of advertising because 
the object of most business letters, directly or indirectly, is to increase 
profits. 

It is no easy or simple thing to write letters that will make people 
do just as you want them to do. 

It is hard enough even in a personal interview to bend the will of 
another to your own in a business matter. 

To accomplish the same end by correspondence, there must be 
something in the letter to take the place of the enthusiasm, the ver- 
satility, the magnetism that are brought into play when there is per- 
sonal contact between you and your "prospect." 

This matter of doing business by mail has become so important 
that whole books have been written on the subject and there are spe- 
cialists who conduct courses of instruction in business correspondence. 

There is surely a field for work of that kind. It needs only a 
cursory reading of any average batch of correspondence — one morn- 
ing's mail, for instance — to convince one that the art of writing 
good business letters is a lost one, or rather that it has never been 
learned by most business men. 

The average business letter is a formal, lifeless ineffective piece 
of literature. It is courteous in a conventional sort of way, but it 
is not skilfully done and lacks the genuine human interest touch 
which it is possible to give even through the medium of paper and 
typewriter ink. 

Until recently business letter writing was about where advertising 
as a whole was a generation ago. When the importance of this subject 
is more generally recognized as much attention will be paid to the 
improvement of business correspondence as is now devoted to the plan- 
ning and writing of advertising matter proper. One of the largest 
trust companies in the country now has a course of instruction in 
letter-writing for the benefit of its officers and department heads. 
This shows the modern trend in this matter. 

The development of the "mail order" business and the establish- 



296 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

ment of scientific follow up systems is making it absolutely essen- 
tial that as much thought and effort be expended in producing let- 
ters that pull, that close up business, as is given to the preparation 
of advertisements to get the initial inquiries. What folly it would be 
to get the names of a large number of possible customers, through 
your strong advertising matter, and then fail to hold their interest, 
convince them and lead them to act by means of your correspondence 
with them. 

Getting the inquiry is only the first step in making a customer 
of such a prospect. Whether or not you make the transformation 
complete depends largely upon the skill and tact with which you 
handle your inquirer in your dealings with him by letter. That 
is a self-evident truth. The "why" of it is apparent, but the "how" 
is not so easy. 

A fact which many bank advertisers do not realize as fully as they 
should is that inquiries as the result of advertising cost money and 
are worth money. Perhaps this is because so much bank advertising 
is of the general publicity variety, and in many cases no direct re- 
turns are expected. 

If all men or women now in charge of the advertising of banks 
and trust companies had had "mail order" experience, they would 
better appreciate the value of an inquiry and the importance of fol- 
lowing it up properly. 

What is to be done with inquiries should not be left to a spur-of- 
the-moment decision after they are in hand. You should know what 
to do with the inquiries before they begin to come in. Oftentimes 
names of prospective depositors are secured through the mention of a 
certain booklet in the newspaper advertisements. Sending the booklet 
upon request is not your whole duty, advertisingly speaking. You 
should send with it a cordial and informative letter, and the name 
and address should be placed on a prospect card. Then in due time 
if the prospect seems worth while but does not become a customer 
within a reasonable period, he should receive another letter or a per- 
sonal call. This presupposes that you have something in the nature 
of a new business department, even if it is only a one-man department. 

If you are tempted to look upon such work as routine, think of the 
rewards of the business-getter. In writing of Henry P. Davison, per- 
haps the best-known of the Morgan partners, B. C. Forbes said: 
"Now, just how did he climb from assistant cashier to the presidency 
of an important bank in so short a period ? Most of the story can be 
told in three words: 'He got business.' " 

Study and practice will make you a good letter writer and increase 



BUILDING BANK BUSINESS BY LETTERS 297 

the results from your business correspondence by a good percentage. 

This is not theory, but a fact proved in the experience of thousands. 

A letter that comes to the point as soon as possible is best. 

The day of lengthy preambles in business letters is past. There 
may be no limit to the length of presidential messages, but few persons, 
aside from editors, are compelled to read them in full. 

Somebody patiently wades through the President's message, and 
arranges the meat of it in tabloid form for the convenience of busy 
readers. 

There is nobody to perform that service for the verbose business 
correspondent, so the wise writer summarizes his own business mes- 
sage. 

But while dispensing with preliminaries, it is not necessary or 
desirable to be blunt. Circumstances alter cases. Sometimes it 
might be the best way to announce your proposition "first crack out 
of the box, ' ' as the saying is, but as a rule it is better to start off with 
a paragraph, which, while not extraneous exactly, still does not at once 
explain your proposition, but rather leads up to it and prepares the 
mind of the reader to receive it. 

Getting attention is important. Some business letter writers go 
so far as to start their letters with a display line, just like the headline 
of an advertisement. Judiciously used, this is a good thing to do. 

The human mind often needs a jolt to make it turn in a new 
direction. Moreover, it is natural to try to satisfy curiosity, so that 
a display line in a letter practically compels the reader to continue 
into the second paragraph of your letter. 

But the balance of your letter must carry out the proposition you 
state in your opening. You must "make good," or your letter is 
worse than wasted. When you have got your man's attention hold 
his interest, convince him, make him act ! 

Make your paragraphs short because a short paragraph letter 
looks interesting and easy to read, while long paragraphs give the 
impression of heaviness. 

This applies particularly to a form letter because the recipient 
does not have to read it, and, nine times out of ten, if it does not look 
interesting he won't read it. 

So you may write with the wit of a Mark Twain or with the 
logic of a Daniel Webster and it will do you no good if your mes- 
sage is not attractive enough in appearance to get itself read. 

If it is an imitation typewritten letter let it be a perfect imi- 
tation. "Process" letters are so well made now-a-days that it is im- 
possible for the average person, not an expert, to distinguish the 



298 MCGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

imitation from the genuine, so that the moral effect may be the 
same and the recipient may feel just as if he were reading a letter 
dictated to him personally and the chances that he will act favorably 
upon your proposition are correspondingly greater. 

Besides clearness to the eye, clearness to the mind is an essen- 
tial thing in a business letter. 

The idea you have in your mind may be a brilliant one, but your 
light is hid under a bushel if you have not the happy faculty of con- 
veying your thoughts to others in correct and lucid English. 

It is a convenient excuse to lay the blame for faulty constructions, 
mis-spelled words and ambiguous expressions upon the stenographer or 
copyist. But, nevertheless, in most cases, the responsibility for 
blunders and solecisms rests entirely with the person who dictates 
and signs the letters. 

You must be well grounded in the rules of syntax, and if you can 
study the derivation of words and the shades of meaning in synonyms, 
so much the better. 

But, after all, the important thing is to be able to write clearly, 
convincingly and concisely in colloquial English. 

It is true that some persons have the gift of expression to a higher 
degree than others, but it is a question whether or not this is so much 
a gift or a talent as it is the result of study, reading and practice. 

One thing is certain, any business man can cultivate facility in 
this respect, and, moreover, while the study of good models, such 
as the letters reproduced in the latter part of this chapter, is an 
excellent thing, the fact remains that it is for every man to work 
out his own salvation by constant practice in his own business. 

As far as this matter can be summed up in a formula, it is this : 

Avoid conventionality and put human interest into your letters. 

The testimony of bankers who have had successful experience 
with direct advertising ought to be of value to others who are consider- 
ing it. A country banker says : 

We have reached the conclusion that a country bank will get more satisfactory 
results from methods of direct advertising than from indirect. Therefore, the 
larger part of our appropriation is expended for booklets, postcards, form letters, 
blotters, souvenirs, etc. As an aid to the proper distribution of this matter we 
have installed a card index system, in which we have on file the names of many 
prospective patrons in our vicinity. These prospects are secured from the town 
and county directory, from the tax assessor's books, from the local newspaper. 
Many others are supplied by our regular depositors. 

We also have a complete mailing list of all our regular patrons, to whom 
some special form of advertising matter is sent occasionally, as we believe in 
keeping their interest stimulated. Each booklet, letter, postcard, etc., has its 
form number. The officer in charge of the advertising marks on each card the 



BUILDING BANK BUSINESS BY LETTERS 299 

form number of the advertising matter he intends that person to receive; later 
his stenographer addresses and mails the booklet, card or whatever it may be. 
This method serves two purposes; first, the officer is relieved of the detail work, 
and second, a record is kept of the advertising mailed. 

Another banker says : 

To my mind the most productive kind of advertising for a bank, short of 
actual solicitation, is follow-up letters. A good list of prospects, with courteous, 
personal letters, originally written and personally signed, is very effective. It 
appears to me that it is a mistake to send out imitation typewritten letters with 
the idea that they will deceive anybody into thinking they are receiving a per- 
i :->nal invitation from the bank. I will venture to say that there is no banker 
who would not know an imitation letter at sight. It seems presumptuous to me 
that we should think that any one else would be deceived by that which we are 
able to recognize ourselves. The usual argument for imitation letters is that 
they can cover more ground. My contention is that it is better to cover less 
ground more thoroughly. To give you an example. The imitation letter people 
ordinarily figure upon about three per cent, of replies. I have written a series of 
three or four follow up letters to a list of prospects and received as high as 90 
per cent, replies. Furthermore I venture to say that persons to whom I wrote 
were more favorably impressed than they would have been had they received an 
imitation letter with a rubber stamp signature, ft has been my experience that 
a bank can secure at least fifty per cent, replies from its follow-up letters, and 
what is still more important can secure actual business. The letters must have 
a personal ring, and if possible, should show in their text some indication that 
they are written directly to the prospect. 

A Southern banker wrote the author thus : 

A little scheme I intend to adopt for our bank is as follows : Have 3x5- 
inch slips printed on heavy paper, ruled with space for name, address and 
business or occupation of prospect, provide space on the slips for keeping a record 
of advertising sent. These blank cards I propose to distribute in quantities to 
all the officers, directors, stockholders, employees and good customers of the bank 
and ask them when they hear of a new man or anyone likely to be interested in 
the facilities the bank has to offer, to fill in his name, address etc., and hand or 
mail the card to the advertising manager of the bank, after signing their name on 
the space provided. These cards will then be followed up persistently, either 
by printed matter or personal work, until the prospect is landed or abandoned 
for some good reason. 

In connection with this plan, I expect to have installed an addressing 
machine and have all the work of preparing the advertising and sending it out 
done in the bank under the supervision of the advertising manager. 

In soliciting commercial accounts I am of the opinion that personal work 
gets more business than most other forms of publicity, and I believe that satisfied 
customers are a bank's best advertisement. The moral is, strive to serve your 
present customers satisfactorily and they will spread the good news to others, 
and it will be an endless chain constantly bringing in new friends. 

Letter enclosures are good advertising, whether they are just 
printed slips containing advertising matter of your institution or 
some little advertising novelty of interest and value. In speaking 
of this matter the "Novelty News" says: 



300 MaoGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

Why not get the full value of your postage? Do you realize that in sending 
out the average commercial message you are paying one cent ordinarily for 
service that you do not receive? It is true, so far as weight is concerned. Two 
average letters could be put in the same envelope and sent for a two-cent stamp. 
The average commercial letter is not even half as heavy as the government will 
permit to go under 2-cent postage. Therefore, you are not getting all you pay 
for when you send out a letter which is only half weight. The service may be 
worth two cents, all right, to send even the light-weight letter, but why not get 
the full value of the postage you are paying for, by sending a "silent salesman" 
inside the letter, which will not cost you anything to mail? 

Utilize your outgoing mails to carry additional appeals for increased friendly 
relations and enlarged patronage when you can do it without increasing your 
annual postage appropriation one penny. If you do not do so, you overlook a 
splendid advertising opportunity, that's all. 

On succeeding pages is to be found an extensive collection of bank 
and trust company letters. All are considered good models and they 
contain a vast amount of material concerning the facilities offered 
by a strong bank and telling how it serves the community. 

Letter No. 1, printed herewith, was sent out by the First National 
Bank of Englewood, Chicago, to 1,150 business firms whose names were 
not on the bank's books. Before the second letter was mailed, sixty 
days later, five accounts had been opened from among the names writ- 
ten to, with deposits as follows: Account A, $12,500; Account B, 
$50; Account C, $103; Account D, $50; Account E, $85. The last 
account also had a savings deposit of $700. 

The owner of account C had been patronizing a bank eight miles 
away from his office, yet his office was but one mile distant from the 
First National Bank of Englewood. The owners of accounts B, D 
and E did not know that the bank accepted checking accounts on a 
deposit of $50. The owner of account A had merely been waiting the 
word to transfer a portion of his funds from another bank where he 
had long been a heavy depositor. 

This letter is frank, vigorous and distinctive. The first paragraph 
begins in an easy, informal manner. The first line of the third para- 
graph, "We require a first deposit of $50 for opening a checking ac- 
count," discloses the main subject of the letter. 

Letter No. 2 followed in July to the same list. Between that month 
and the month of sending out the third letter three accounts were 
opened, with deposits as here shown: Account A, $500.00; Account 
B, $312.86 ; Account C, $77.50. 

Account A was that of a large manufacturing concern which em- 
ploys four to five hundred men. The company carried its main ac- 
count in a down-town bank (the First National Bank of Englewood 
is seven miles out from the centre of Chicago) , but arrangements have 
been made whereby it now pays its employes with checks drawn on 



BUILDING BANK BUSINESS BY LETTERS 301 

the First National Bank of Englewood, so that the men may be brought 
into the bank's office, and, perchance, encouraged to start savings ac- 
counts. Account B was that of a professional man with an office near 
the bank. Several years before he had gotten started in another 
bank, and although it was farther for him, had continued to go there. 
Two letters were needed to dislodge him. Account C represented more 
newly -made business; the owner did not know that the bank accepted 
checking accounts on a deposit of $50. 

Advice and information — no charge for either — are the chief topics 
of this second letter. The breezy manner in which the subject is in- 
troduced, the logical treatment, and the sustained ardor of the letter, 
secured by crisp, racy sentences and rhetorical style, give the letter its 
effectiveness. 

The third letter was sent out in September, ninety days after No. 
2, and } r ielded seven additional new checking accounts, with initial 
deposits as follows : Account A, $78.32 ; Account B, $85.36 ; Account 
C, $390.00; Account D, $150.00; Account E, $50.00; Account F, 
$100.00 ; Account G, $88.85. 

In the originals of Letters Nos. 2 and 3 the first paragraphs were 
printed in red, the remaining ones being in black to match stationery. 
All of these letters were printed on a multigraph, signatures were put 
on by a printing press and the dates and names filled in on a type- 
writer. 

"Facilities" — deposit vaults, separate teller windows for women 
and men; large private writing rooms, with free telephone privileges, 
etc. — are the things discussed in Letter No. 3. "These," declare the 
communication, "have put us 'a league ahead' of the public's demand 
for adequate and quick service." Here, again, is a letter written in 
"straight-from-the-shoulder" talk, the kind every banker should use, 
when he is writing letters, because it is the only sort which comes to 
him naturally. Short sentences, fresh phrasing and a lively tone, are 
the qualities which stamp this letter as a "business-puller." Para- 
graph five is especially effective because of its novelty, its immediate 
application and its economic interest. The final paragraph breaks 
with the unity of the preceding ones to repeat what the first letter 
had emphasized — the bank's requirements: 

LETTER NO. 1. 

Dear Sir: 

You will agree with us that it is never out of season for the banker and the 
business man to talk about the advantages of a commercial account. Now — 

We wish to talk with you in a "straight-from-the-shoulder" business manner 
about this subject. We will be brief. 



302 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

We require a first deposit of $50 for opening a checking account. If an 
average monthly balance of like amount is maintained we make no charge for 
handling the account. If the monthly average falls below $50 a charge of fifty 
cents per month is made. This fee, we might explain, is intended to cover costs 
of bookkeeping and stationery. We render statements of account to our com- 
mercial depositors whenever desired — regularly the first day of the month — and 
supply all stationery free, such as check-books, deposit tickets, payroll slips, cur- 
rency wrappers, etc. 

So much for our terms. There may be other points you wish elucidated and 
we will explain these if you will call or write. We are now serving ten thousand 
other persons agreeably and with profit to them as well as ourselves — is there 
any good reason why we cannot serve you in the same way? Our offices are 
open for admittance from 8 a. m. to 5.30 p. m., except Saturday, when we close 
at noon. Business hours, 9 a. m. to 3 p. m. ; Saturday, 9 to 12. We thank you. 

Yours respectfully, 

Cashier. 

LETTER NO. 2. 
Dear Sir : 

"There's a lot of well meanin' folks goin' thru this world friendless that if 
they* could be paired off somehow would make one another's lives reasonably 
happy." 

Yes, siree! — and there's a lot of business men — only half successful, would 
be at least three-quarters so if they had a staunch banker friend whose advice 
they could seek at will and would occasionally follow. 

The reason why a prudent business man often goes to his banker for counsel 
is apparent, for whether it be about a purchase, an investment, an extension of 
credit or the management of a business, the banker, if he has been long in the 
business, has had experience which enables him to speak with wisdom and 
weight. 

Advice and information to depositors is a part of this bank's curriculum. 
It makes no charge for either. In addition to its own experience and observa- 
tion it has many reliable channels for drawing upon that of others. Few de- 
positors think as much of a whole month's service of the general kind, as they do 
of a half hour's attention of the special sort. This bank gives both. The judg- 
ment of its officers is at your disposal should you care to consult it. You are 
invited to call. 

Yours respectfully, 

Cashier. 



LETTER NO. 3. 
Dear Sir: 

Ever try, in your business, to keep pace with the public? 

We've been at it twenty-one years. Eighteen of them we were chiefly behind. 
Two years ago we caught up. Since that we've been runing well ahead. 

Our new bank building did it. The old quarters were cramped and short in 
the waist. We had no safe deposit vaults, only two teller windows, and no pri- 
vate rooms for patrons' use. If a customer wished to use the telephone he 
talked over the cashier's wire. If he wanted to write a letter he went into the 
directors' room. 

Now all that is changed. In place of complaints have come congratulations. 
Deposit vaults, of the strongest steel construction known; separate teller win- 
dows for women and men; large private writing rooms with free telephone privi- 
lege; a corps of adding machines; rapid money changer; a coin-counter; an ad- 
dressograph — these have put us "a league ahead" of the public's demand for 
te and quick service. And we mean to stay so. 



BUILDING BANK BUSINESS BY LETTERS 303 

Under our new plan for proving receiving tellers the average amount of 
time required to wait on a commercial depositor is less than one minute. 

You may be glad to know that. Glad, also, to know that we have place for 
the small account as well as the large one. Our requirements for checking 
accounts — an average balance of $50 — prove this. Call and let's talk it over for 
mutual benefit. 

Yours respectfully, 

Cashier. 



TO FARMERS 

E. H. Hollister, vice-president of the Farmers and Merchants Bank 
of Idaho Falls, Idaho, writes : 

"We have a sugar factory at Idaho Falls. The fifteenth of November was 
pay day. We procured from the sugar factory a list of the men to whom a 
pay check would be issued on that day, and on November 14 a copy of the 
enclosed letter was mailed to each. We issued about 500 of the letters and got 
thirty new accounts as a result." The letter was as follows: 

FARMERS AND MERCHANTS BANK 
Idaho Falls, Idaho. 
Dear Sir: 

We have been thinking about you, and have often wondered if you carry a 
bank account in Idaho Falls. If you do not we would like to have you for our 
customer. Within the next few days you will receive from the Sugar Company 
a check, in part payment of your beet crop. This check, no matter upon which 
bank drawn, we want you to deposit with us, and then pay your accounts with 
your own check on this bank. Even if you expect to pay out, immediately, the 
entire proceeds of this pay check, deposit it with us anyway, for we firmly be- 
lieve that if you once start doing your banking business with us. you will always 
do a banking business, and will never care to go elsewhere in future. When we 
organized this bank eighteen months ago, we did so with the intention of making 
it distinctively a farmers' bank. We still have the same idea. It is the farmers' 
business we want. It is the farmers' business we are getting, and we are doing 
it with the feeling on both their part and our part, that we can take just a little 
better care of their needs than anyone else. Feeling confident of our ability to 
please you, we invite your patronage. 

Very truly yours, 

Cashier. 

Dear Sir: 

As a farmer of to-day you enjoy any number of conveniences and luxuries 
that were unknown but a few years ago. You have the rural free delivery, 
weather bureau service, better educational facilities, improved farm machinery, 
better roads over which to haul farm products, and. if desired, you can have the 
telephone placed in your home connecting you with the market and bringing 
your friends in close communication. 

These things are helpful, but a bank account — one on which to draw checks — 
is a convenience almost indispensable. It enables you to keep an accurate record 
of all business transactions. You are at no risk of loss of your money by fire 
or thieves, and you are able to obtain business information from your banker 
that will prove very helpful. 

The success of this bank depends upon the success of the people who de- 
posit and borrow here. Only as they succeed can we hope to continue to build 
up a strong business. On the other hand, our farmers are dependent upon the 



304 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

bank in many ways. They are enabled to market their crops because those who 
buy may obtain funds at the bank. This, with the safeguarding of money, the 
keeping of their records, make a bank account indispensable. 

The services rendered by this bank and the protection it affords are just a 
little better than found elsewhere. You need a bank account on which to check, 
an account to draw interest, a safety deposit box in which to safeguard your 
mortgages and other valuable papers, or some other of the features for service 
which we offer. 

We are interested in your success; we wish to see you prosper, and you 
will if you patronize this bank, for the people who do so are more generally 
prosperous than those having no such banking connection. 

Just send us the money you have on hand by registered mail, by check or 
money order and we will issue you a book for a checking account or a Savings 
Deposit as desired, sending it by return mail. 

When in town make our institution your headquarters. 
Yours very truly, 

Advertising Manager. 

THE MID-WEST STATE BANK 

Sioux City, Iowa 

"That Always Treats you RIGHT" 
To YOU: 

Do you know Ed. and Lee? 

Ed.: — Founder of the bank at Jackson, Neb.; owner of it from 1886 to 1911 
— twenty-five and one-half years. 

Lee: — His cashier from 1889 to 1911 — then full charge for six years — 
eighteen years without a penny's loss from bad notes. 

Now — BOTH here, with several able helpers — ALL eager to "treat you 
RIGHT!" 

Ours — A Farmers' Bank — loaning mostly to them — the safest borrowers on 
earth. 

'Tis easy for a Farmer or any good man to borrow here, ANY time — optional 
payments — ( but they must be GOOD ) . 

ASK IF YOUR BANK DOES THESE THINGS FOE YOU: 

Carry ALL demand deposits — READY — in cash. 

Record payee's name on each check — can prove your payment — any time. 
Return statement and paid checks — 1st of EVERY month — to ALL. 
Loan only on SECURED NOTES — (nor can owners of the bank borrow a 
dollar here) . 

Offered for thirty years: — $100 for person wronged by bank. 
Paid every dollar asked— WHEN ASKEDf— even in 1893, 1896, 1907, 1914. 
(Never a ten dollar limit in thirty-one and a half years' banking.) 
Through panics and prosperity — ALWAYS working for our customers' good. 
YOU better come now— KNOW— "SMILE ALSO." 
'Tis "WORTH WHILE." 

Gratefully yours, 

THE MID-WEST STATE BANK 

"Safe as a Government Bond." 

For ALL the People. 

P. S. :— We wish a MILLION deposits— SOON. Help a bit. 
We make Farm Loans five per cent. ; Cattle Loans eight per cent. Your own 
time — Optional payments. 



BUILDING BANK BUSINESS BY LETTERS 305 

TO PRESENT DEPOSITORS 

FIRST NATIONAL BANK 
Dear Sir: 

We at the First National Bank are eager to extend our banking service and 
facilities to a larger number of depositors, because we believe this will be mu- 
tually beneficial. 

We have the equipment and the working force to serve many more customers 
and feel that the company and many other local people who could advantageously 
use our service, ought to be brought together. 

If you know some person or business concern that you think might open an ac- 
count at the First National Bank if the matter were properly presented, we 
should be very glad to have the name and address, and in our solicitation we 
would mention your name or not, just as you wish. 

For your convenience in helping us in this matter, we enclose herewith a 
card containing a blank for the name and address of the one best "prospect" 
you have in mind for us. After having filled out this card, please mail it to us 
or send it with your next deposit. 

Thanking you in advance for your co-operation and hoping we may have an 
early opportunity to return the favor, we remain, 

Cordially yours, 

Vice-President. 



FIRST NATIONAL BANK 
Dear Sir: 

In calling upon of with a view to interesting 

him in the service of the First National Bank I learned that you and he are 
acquainted in a business way. 

It has occurred to me that you as one of our depositors might be able and 

willing to speak a good word to Mr in our behalf. If you like 

the way you are treated at the First National Bank, if you find our service help- 
ful to you, if you feel that your banking relations here are entirely satisfactory, 
we will certainly appreciate it if you will write, telephone or speak personally 
to Mr in regard to the First National Bank. 

Thanking you in advance for your consideration in this matter, and hoping 
that we may have an opportunity to reciprocate the favor, I remain, 

Cordially yours, 

Vice-President. 



THE AMERICAN NATIONAL BANK 
Dear Mr. Blank: 

Now that the war is over and the normal business of peace times is im- 
mediately ahead of us, we wish to thank you for the business given and directed 
to us in the past, and to ask your co-operation for the future. 

During the reconstruction period there will undoubtedly be many business 
changes, and incidentally changes in banking connections. Many new firms, 
whose start has been held up by the War, will commence business, and outside 
firms will open San Francisco offices. 



306 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

Information along these lines is of much value to us in securing new ac- 
counts and we ask that you please keep us in mind and favor us with the names 
of any firms that come to your attention. In inviting an account we will not 
use your name except with permission. 

In our business-building efforts we have previously addressed our friends, 
and the results have been very encouraging. Again we express our thanks. 

Desiring always to improve our service, we welcome suggestions from those 
interested in our success. Believing you are in accord with us, we should be 
glad to receive an expression from you, and thanking you in anticipation, we are 

Very truly yours, 

Assistant Cashier. 

My Dear Mr. : 

By analyzing the accounts maintained with us by depositors we have found 
that some accounts are profitable and others are unprofitable. We are happy 
to say that the analysis shows that your account is a desirable one; that you 
maintain a balance sufficiently large to pay us for handling the details connected 
with your account and to allow us a little margin of profit. This letter has the 
object of telling you that we are glad from a business viewpoint as well as from 
the standpoint of sentiment to have your banking business. 

The letter has another object also, namely, to let you know that we should 
be very glad to receive any personal trust business which you may have. 

If you have made your will, naming an executor and trustee, it will be a 
very simple matter for you, by means of a codicil, to substitute this Company as 
executor and trustee. 

If you have not yet made a will, we urge upon you the importance of doing 
so without further postponement, and we invite you to instruct your lawyer to 
write this Company into the will as executor and trustee. 

If you feel that it is important that a friend or member of your family be 
appointed as executor and trustee, we invite you to name this Company as co- 
executor and co-trustee, in order that the friend or family member may be re- 
lieved of the burden of management, while at the same time being in close touch 
with all the affairs of the estate. 

We believe that your dealings with us in the past have justified your com- 
plete confidence in us, and we therefore have no hesitation in calling this matter 
to your attention. The undersigned or some other officer of the Company will 
be very glad to talk over with you, in strictest confidence, this important matter. 

Very truly yours, 

President. 

My Dear Mr. : 

We have just completed an analysis of the accounts of our depositors with 
a view of determining which accounts are profitable for us to handle and which 
are unprofitable. 

It affords us regret to find that your balance has decreased to a point where 
it is not in itself profitable for us to handle, and we are writing you in all 
friendliness to ask if it will not be possible for you materially to increase your 
deposit so that our business relationship will continue to be mutually profitable 
as well as friendly and pleasant. 

If it is not convenient for you to increase your deposit, will you not at least 
do what you can to send new business to us? You may be able to influence the 
placing of much larger business than your own with us and in this way make 
your connection with this Company much more valuable to us than the analysis 
of your account would seem to indicate. 



BUILDING BANK BUSINESS BY LETTERS 307 

We assure you of our appreciation of the business you have given us. We 
like to have you as a customer, and we trust you will regard this letter as an 
evidence of that fact as well as of our desire to receive more business from you 
in the future than we have in the past. 

Very truly yours, 

President. 

UNION SAVINGS BANK AND TRUST COMPANY 
Dear Sir: 

As the end of the year approaches we want to thank you for your deposits 
and other business with us during the past twelve months. 

We are pleased to send you herewith the latest statement of our condition. 
It shows an increase of three-quarters of a million dollars in deposits in the past 
year — a good indication, we believe, of the popular confidence in this institution 
and appreciation of the service it renders. 

It is our plan to keep our depositors fully informed as to the progress and 
condition of the bank, both for their own satisfaction and in order that they 
may be in a position to recommend us to their friends. For we hope that you 
have found our service and facilities so satisfactory that you will feel disposed 
not only to extend your relations with us, increasing your balance on deposit, 
but also to call the institution favorably to the attention of possible new de- 
positors. From the fact that you are a depositor of long standing, we assume 
that you are entirely pleased with the security and service we afford you and, 
therefore, would willingly speak such a good word for us whenever you can. 

Perhaps you yourself do not realize and appreciate all the features of our 
service. Let us get better acquainted for our mutual advantage. 

Thanking you in advance for your consideration in this matter and wishing 
you continued prosperity, we remain, 

Very cordially yours, 

Cashier. 

P. S. — If you know of any firms or individuals we might interest in the 
Union Savings Bank and Trust Company, please write their names on the back 
of this letter and send it to us with your next deposit. 



TO NEW DEPOSITORS 

We take this opportunity of expressing our appreciation of the account which 
you have opened with us and we wish to assure you that our officers and em- 
ployes will esteem it a pleasure to extend to you every courtesy and attention. 

There are two features to which we wish to call your attention — more pro- 
tection than found at many other banks and a painstaking effort to render you a 
helpful banking service through any of our several departments. 

Nearly every person needs a checking account on which to draw for the 
payment of obligations and nearly every one has some definite plan in mind 
which cannot be realized until a certain sum has been accumulated through such 
a plan as is offered by our Savings Department. 

Still others find one of our other departments helpful, for we render you the 
same good service in handling your insurance, selecting an investment through 
our bond department, in acting as your agent or when naming us as executor of 
your will. 

It has been our experience that satisfied patrons are always pleased to 
recommend a bank to their friends and acquaintances and we trust that your 
relations with us will prove so satisfactory that you will take pleasure in direct- 
ing to the Wachovia Bank and Trust Company any persons whom you consider 
would be benefited by having an account with tbis bank. 



308 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

If at any time we can be of assistance to you by furnishing information or 
advice regarding financial matters, we cordially invite you to call upon us. 

Yours truly, 

Advertising Manager. 



STOCKHOLDERS 
Dear Sir: 

I am taking the liberty of writing you this letter because you are a stock- 
holder of this bank. You are a part of it. Its welfare is of vital interest to 
you. When you work for it — when you influence a man to become a customer 
— you are working for yourself. Ever think of that? 

We, inside the bank, are bending every energy toward three things — the 
satisfaction of our present customers, the gaining of new customers and the 
making of profit for our shareholders. These three things require hard work, 
with an eye single always to absolute safety. 

Not depreciating to any extent the influence you are using for us now and 
have used in the past, we feel that if the matter is called to your attention 
you will be willing to give just a little more of your time toward working for 
the First National. 

If you find a man who is undecided as to where to keep his money, tell 
him where you do your business; tell him how we have treated you; tell him of 
our large capital and surplus; tell him that we are the only national bank in 
the country; tell him who the men are who are behind the bank. If he brings 
his account to us, you confer a favor both upon him and us. 

The idea is: I want all the stockholders to feel that this is "our bank." 
When this idea becomes general the splendid growth that the First National is 
already enjoying will be doubled. 

May I not expect your co-operation along the lines laid down above? 
Very truly yours, 

President. 

FIRST NATIONAL BANK 
Dear Sir: 

Enclosed herewith, we are pleased to send you our check for the dividend 
on your stock of the First National Bank for the quarter ended 

We desire also to take this occasion to tell you something about our efforts 
to increase the business of the bank and to seek your co-operation in these ef- 
forts. 

Undoubtedly you have noticed the attractive advertisements of the First 
National Bank which have been appearing from time to time in several of the 
local newspapers. 

These are part of a special campaign we are carrying on just now to get more 
business for our institution. A number of new depositors have been secured 
lately as the result of the co-operation of customers who think well enough of 
our service to give us the names of prospective customers. 

As a stockholder of this company, you have a special interest in its success. 
The more business we can do, the greater our profit account will be and the larger 
the amount you will receive in dividends; the larger our clients and the more 
firmly established our institution becomes, the better your investment in our 
stock will be. 

These facts are self-evident, but we believe that some of our stockholders 
overlook them at times. We appreciate it if you have already done anything 
to turn business toward the First National Bank, and we hope, for our mutual 
advantage, that you can give us an increased measure of co-operation in the 
future. Please recommend us to your friends and acquaintances whenever you 



BUILDING BANK BUSINESS BY LETTERS 309 

can, and send us the names of "prospects" so that we may call upon them and 
present our claims for their business. 

Very truly yours, 

President. 

THE GUARANTEE TRUST COMPANY 

Dear Fellow-Stockholders : 

It's encouraging that since April over $300,000 has been on deposit with 
this, your company. Getting new business is uphill work, however, and the 
"Guarantee"' can only become successful by EVERY stockholder putting his 
shoulder to the wheel and all of us PUSHING together. 

Some stockholders seem to think that paying their stock subscription ends 
their responsibility, depending upon the directors to make a success of the com- 
pany. However, the only benefit a director receives from business he brings the 
company is derived through his ownership of stock, the same as any other 
stockholder. All stockholders being benefited alike, one should then be just 
as responsible as another for the growth of the company's business. Three 
hundred stockholders have a much wider range of influence than fourteen di- 
rectors, so our future rests largely with the stockholders themselves. 

Estimating that the directors have procured one-half of our present busi- 
ness, or $150,000 of deposits, if each stockholder would bring only half as 
much business as each director, our deposits would increase to nearly two 
million dollars. This would place us in a position to make money — and profits 
mean an increase in the value of YOUR stock. A line of deposits like this 
would also hasten the growth of our trust business, where the company acts as 
executor, trustee, agent, etc. This business is usually slow to develop, coming 
as it does, mostly through the depositors of a trust company. 

Your business and your influence are what we need. If we do not yet have 
your account, let me again urge the importance of giving it to us at once. 
If you owned a store, would you buy from a competitor just because he was 
a good friend or because his store was nearer your home? This is YOUR bank; 
it should have your account. 

Only second to your business is your influence. Saying to your neighbor, 
"I do my banking there," or "There's where I keep my account," does more 
good than a dozen letters from us. With our new building and modern equip- 
ment, he can get the best possible service here, and word from you will often 
decide in our favor — and new business means DIVIDENDS for you. 

I have put matters thus frankly because I think you should realize that 
this is your bank, that it is able and wants to serve you in ALL your money 
matters, and that it needs j our co-operation. There are over three hundred 
of us and we can bring big results with everybody helping just a little. Will 
you do your share? Come in — any time — let us talk things over. 

Cordially yours, 

President. 



TO DIRECTORS 
THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK 

Dear Sir: 

The impulse has come to me to write you a personal letter to thank you 
for the interest which you, as one of our directors, have taken in the welfare of 
the First National Bank during the past year and to bespeak a continuance 
of that interest in the coming year. 

As you know, our deposits are now nearly up to the $4,000,000 mark. We 
want to reach and pass that point this year, and I believe it can be done if 



310 MaciGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

every man connected with the bank puts his shoulder to the wheel and helps to 
keep things moving. 

We officers appreciate very much what our directors have done and are 
doing in the way of sending us new business, but it has occurred to us that if 
we called special attention to our earnest desire to increase deposits this year 
perhaps you directors would see your way clear to go out of your way, if 
need be, to speak a good word for the bank to prospective customers. 

Of course, the greater our deposits the greater our profits will be, but en- 
tirely aside from that feature, I know you have a genuine pride in the progress 
of our institution. 

Wishing you continued health and prosperity, I remain 
Cordially yours, 

President. 



BY A DIRECTOR TO A PROSPECT 
Dear Sir: 

Mr , representing the First National Bank, of 

which I am a director, tells me that he has called upon you in order to inform 
you regarding the service and facilities offered by that institution. 

Naturally, I am much interested and would be pleased to learn that you 
have decided to become a depositor at the First National Bank, as I know the 
connection would be mutually advantageous to you and the bank. 

You will find the officers and staff cordial and efficient. The institution is 
strong in men, experience and financial resources, as well as the fact that it is 
a member bank of the Federal Reserve System, backed by the National Govern- 
ment. As you know, it has a very convenient location. 

Again let me assure you that you would make no mistake at all in starting 
an account at the First National Bank, and, personally, I am hoping that you 
will decide to do so. Cordially yours, 

President. 

TO MANUFACTURERS 

UNION SAVINGS BANK AND TRUST COMPANY 
Dear Sir: 

Manufacturers have constant need of the services of a good bank. 

We believe THIS bank can help YOU in YOUR business. 

It is scarcely necessary to mention our everyday conveniences of banking — 
checks, collections, bill of lading, drafts, domestic and foreign exchange, dis- 
counting bills receivable, remittances by wire, caring for business reserve funds, 
safe deposit vaults, cash for payrolls, etc., because we feel that a manufacturer's 
first need is working capital and that the bank is the logical place for him to 
seek it. 

Big and strong companies sometimes go to the wall because of temporary 
lack of capital when a time of stress comes and finds them without suitable 
banking connections. 

It is this larger want of the manufacturer and the positive business-build- 
ing service of this bank which* we want to emphasize at this time. 

The proper use of banking facilities is one of the chief aids to business 
efficiency and satisfactory results. 

Our complete and convenient equipment and the diversified experience of 
the officers and directors of this old institution is a guarantee of sound man- 
agement and ability to give unsurpassed banking service. 

If you are thinking of starting a bank account or making a change in 
your present banking relations, come and see us or let us call and see you. 

Very cordially yours, 

President. 



BUILDING BANK BUSINESS BY LETTERS 311 

TO OFFICERS OF DEPOSITOR CORPORATIONS 
FIRST NATIONAL BANK 

Xhe Company is one of our valued depositors and we 

are glad of the opportunity thus afforded to serve it in various banking matters. 

It has occurred to us that perhaps you may not be aware of the fact that 
we are fully prepared and eager to handle personal checking accounts. If you 
open an account at the First National Bank you can confidently expect to receive 
the same prompt, accurate and courteous service which we are pleased to give 
to the business organization of which you are a part. 

Whether you are ready to do business with us or not, is it not possible that 
we might get better acquainted to our mutual advantage? 

Cordially yours, 

Cashier. 



FOR SAVING ACCOUNTS 

THE BANK OF NEW RICHMOND 
Dear Sir: 

A dollar in this bank is worth two in your pocket or in many so-called "in- 
vestments," because it is safe and sure to earn interest. 

The dollar in your pocket will be spent and you are ging to lose its earning 
power FOREVER. The same may be true of your unsafe investment. Why 
not choose the better way? Start a savings account at the Bank of New Rich- 
mond today! 

Send your deposit to the Bank of New Richmond by mail if you live where 
it is not convenient for you to come into the bank personally. 

Suppose you want to start a savings account. Send the money by draft, 
check or money order in regular mail. Cash should be sent by registered mail. 
We will send you a passbook with receipt, and also signature card for you to 
return to us. Then the pass-book is mailed back and forth as deposits or with- 
drawals are made. 

Millions of dollars daily are in the United States mails. Rarely is a cent 
lost — almost never when the proper precautions are taken. Many depositors 
of the Bank of New Richmond do business with us by mail. They both deposit 
and withdraw money without ever coming near the bank. 

In the Bank of New Richmond's thirty-nine years of experience, it has no 
record of a single loss in the entire and extensive transactions of business by 
mail, with savings depositors, or banking, or business houses. 

This safe and easy plan is especially convenient for savings depositors who 
live at a distance and yet want to enjoy the safety and profit to be obtained by 
keeping their money at 4 per cent, in this strong old bank whose motto is "Safe, 
Solid, Sound and Sure." 

Very truly yours, 

President. 

Dear Sir: 

When you tie up money in any individual enterprise, it immediately be- 
comes a matter of care, attention and possibly of worry to you. Your returns 
in the way of dividends, and perhaps even the safety of your principal, depend 
upon success in all the details of management. Any individual business may 
encounter difficulties impossible to overcome. Failure may come from any one 
of dozens of wholly unexpected causes. 

It may be that changes in your own affairs will make it necessary to realize 
on your investments, and that may be the very time when it is most impossible 
to sell on a fair basis, and a heavy sacrifice may result. 



312 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

But when you invest your surplus money in a savings account in the Cen- 
tral National Bank of Battle Creek, the chances of loss, of uncertainty, of 
worry, and all care and attention on your part are wholly eliminated. 

This bank is radically different from any individual business enterprise. 
Its money is scattered in many diversified loans, all payable in short time, and, 
because of their diversity, the chance of loss to the bank is very small, while 
the possibility of even the slightest loss reaching you is wholly eliminated by 
the bank's own capital, surplus and stockholders' liability amounting to $450,000, 
by the active supervision of the United States Government, and by the con- 
stant, personal oversight of a Board of Directors chosen from among the most 
conservative, responsible and experienced bankers and business men in Battle 
Creek. 

Your savings here earn FOUR per cent., compounded quarterly. You can 
draw the interest in cash, or if not so drawn, it is added to the account without 
attention on your part and thus the problem of collecting and re-investing the 
interest is eliminated. 

Upon receipt of the enclosed blank, filled out with remittance of your first 
deposit, a savings pass-book with proper credit will be mailed to you promptly. 

Very truly yours, 

Cashier. 

THE TYLER COUNTY BANK 
Dear Sir: 

In order to make real progress in financial matters, it is necessary to save 
money systematically. 

To save money successfully, it is advisable to have some definite object to 
work for. That has been the experience of thousands of men and women who 
have got ahead by their own efforts. 

Are you looking far enough into the future to be willing to do without 
some things now for the sake of having them, with interest, later on? 

The anticipation of a future competence takes away the sting of present 
toil and self sacrifice. If you have a vision of what you want to have or be, 
work and save now and you can accomplish it. 

Having a savings account in a strong and entirely dependable bank like 
this is one of the greatest possible aids to saving. 

Put something into the bank every week or every month, even if the amount 
is small. You will find that such regular savings accumulate rapidly, and as 
your account grows you will be in a position to take advantage of opportunities 
to make money when they come to you from time to time. 

You can open a savings account at this strong bank with $1.00. We pay 
four per cent, compound interest on savings accounts. 

Yours very truly, 

Cashier. 

CERTIFICATES OF DEPOSIT 

FIRST NATIONAL BANK 
Dear Sir: 

Have you heard that the First National Bank of Intercourse will pay in- 
terest on Time Deposits, at the rate of three per cent, for six and twelve month 
periods, beginning January 1 next? 

Now, or later, you may have some money lying idle, and it might as well 
earn some interest for you. By putting it into this bank, on Time Certificate, 
you can make three per cent, and still have the privilege of withdrawing it 
at any time, by forfeiting the interest. If you need a loan, say, for thirty or 
sixty days, you can use the Time Certificate to the amount of its face value, as 
collateral, and needn't ask any one to endorse for you. 



BUILDING BANK BUSINESS BY LETTERS 313 

Should you know of any persons in your community who have some money 
to deposit on Time Certificate we'd consider it a special favor if you'd call their 
attention to our bank. 

Visit our institution so that we can talk over the matter with you, hut if 
it is inconvenient for you to call, just write out your check in favor of "In- 
tercourse Bank," and mail it. Use the enclosed envelope, and it will be sure 
to reach us safely. Your Time Certificate will be returned to you at once. 

The best plan is for you to come to the bank yourself, bring your valuable 
papers along, rent a Safe Deposit Box in our fireproof Vault (only One Dollar 
a Year) and put all your valuable papers, along with your Time Certificate, in 
a Safe Deposit Box. 

Hoping to be favored with a share of your business, at least, we remain 
Very truly yours, 

President. 



THE BANK OF DONALDS 
Dear Sir: 

The fiscal year of this bank ended yesterday, and we take pleasure in send- 
ing you herewith a statement showing the progress the institution has made in 
the past twelve months. 

We also want to take this occasion to thank you for your deposits and 
other business with us and to express the hope that you have found our serv- 
ice and facilities so satisfactory that you feel disposed to extend your relations 
with us, increase your balance on deposit here, and recommend us to your friends 
and neighbors. 

It is possible that there are some details of the service we offer with which 
you are not familiar. Perhaps you have never really learned by experience 
just how helpful a bank can be to you in your business and financial affairs. 

Try us out and we will "make good" on our claims. Here are just a few 
of the points of our service: Loans, discounts, information, advice, references, 
bank drafts, safe keeping of money and securities, five per cent, interest on time 
deposits, certificates of deposit, letters of credit, telegraphing money, collections, 
and last, but not least, the great convenience of a checking account. 

At this time we want to call particular attention to the advantages of our 
Five Per Cent. Certificate of Deposit. If at present you have any extra money 
coming in, or if you have accumulated any surplus which you are not planning 
to spend or invest permanently at once, let us suggest this way to take care 
of it. 

Deposit it in this sound State-supervised bank for at least three months. 
We will issue for it a Certificate of Deposit which will bear interest at the 
rate of five per cent, a year for every full month the money is left on deposit. 

By this method your money is kept safely and earns a return which is a 
very good one for a temporary investment, and, since the Certificates are ne- 
gotiable by indorsement, the cash is instantly available whenever you need it, 
something which cannot be said for many another five per cent, investment. 

With your surplus money invested in our certificates of deposit, you have 
the absolute guarantee of a fixed return on your money and you are freed 
from all worry which is incident to more speculative forms of investment. 

Further particulars will be gladly furnished. Consult us about this or any 
other financial matter, and do not forget that it is always the policy of this 
bank to provide a prompt, accurate and courteous banking service for all, and 
to combine liberal treatment with proper conservatism. 

Trusting that you will decide to get better acquainted with us for our 
mutual advantage, we remain, 

Very cordially yours, 

Cashier. 



314 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

SECOND NATIONAL BANK, COOPERSTOWN, N. Y. 

Dear Sir: 

We are writing you this letter in order to call your special attention to 
some of the ways in which this bank can help you if you will give us the oppor- 
tunity. 

For a great many years this bank has carried on its business in Cooperstown. 
It has numbered among its depositors and customers thousands of the citizens 
of Cooperstown and in other communities in this vicinity. We have the strength, 
experience and equipment to handle your financial and banking matters in the 
most satisfactory manner, as we have done for so many others. 

There is one feature of our business that we want to refer to particularly 
at this time, and that is our Temporary Certificates of Deposit in connection 
with our Interest Department. We issue certificates of deposit bearing interest 
at the rate of three per cent, a year. These run until the next interest date 
after six months from the date of the certificate. At that interest date the 
money may be transferred to the Interest Department and a passbook will be 
issued, to the depositor. This is an ideal way for you to care for temporarily 
idle funds, as your money will be perfectly safe and profitably employed. 

Our Interest Department is practically a savings bank. A great many 
persons have found the maintenance of an account there a real help toward 
thrift. If you wish, we can provide you with a little calendar safe to use at 
home. These metal safes take all coins from a penny to a silver dollar. Money 
once put in cannot be taken out till the safe is brought to the bank to be 
unlocked so that the contents can be credited to your account. A handsome 
colored calendar for a month is given with each safe and every month the safe 
is brought to the bank and a new calendar given. 

In addition to these features we have safe deposit boxes in our great vault 
to rent at from $4.00 a year upward. 

Come in and see for yourself what we can do for you. The officers of this 
old and reliable bank want to make your personal acquaintance. 

Very truly yours, 

Cashier. 



FIRST TRUST AND SAVINGS BANK, BILLINGS, MONT. 

Dear Sir: 

As, this spring, you will doubtless receive money for which you will have 
no immediate use, we take this opportunity of calling your attention to the 
difference between the income from money deposited at three or four per cent., 
and when deposited with this bank at six. 

If your money draws six per cent, interest it will double itself in twelve 
years, while money at four per cent, requires almost eighteen years for the in- 
terest to amount to the original principal. The same proportion holds good 
for any period of time, and furnishes a striking illustration of the importance 
of procuring a profitable rate of interest on your money. 

The First Trust and Savings Bank is organized under the laws of Montana 
and is under State supervision, all of its affairs being conducted with the strict- 
est regard for sound banking principles. The certificates of deposit issued by 
this bank afford a convenient as well as an absolutely safe method of deposit, 
and they yield six per cent, interest per annum. 

Trusting that we may be favored with your deposits, we remain, 
Yours very truly, 

Secretary. 



BUILDING BANK BUSINESS BY LETTERS 315 

TO PROFESSIONAL PERSONS 
UNION SAVINGS BANK AND TRUST COMPANY 

Dear Sir: 

As a rule, a professional man does not require a bank's service as often 
as a business man, but when he does want banking facilities his need is just as 
great, and it is equally important for him to consider carefully the strength 
and other qualifications of the bank soliciting his business. 

During the past twenty years and more, the Union Savings Bank and Trust 
Company has been honored with the accounts of many men of your profession 
and other professions. At the present time we have 14 physicians on our list 
of depositors. 

The professional man needs a safe place of deposit for his cash and valu- 
able papers. 

He needs the safety and convenience of a checking account. 

He needs a financial adviser in whom he can place perfect confidence. 

He needs to establish a banking credit against that time when he may 
have an opportunity, but not sufficient cash to seize it. 

This bank will meet your requirements in all these particulars, and in 
many others. We take pleasure in sending you herewith a copy of our latest 
financial statement, and we would be very glad to make your personal acquaint- 
ance as we have no doubt it would prove mutually beneficial. 

Very truly yours, 

Cashier. 

TO BORROWERS 

THE PEOPLES NATIONAL BANK 
Dear Sir: 

Wie wish to call your attention once more to the advantages of dealing 
with the Peoples National Bank. The rapid and continued increase in the 
number of our customers is taken by us as indicating that our way of doing 
business is becoming more generally appreciated by the public. 

It is our pleasure to extend to you our banking facilities, and if you are 
not now doing any business with us we would like you to consider the matter 
of opening an account here. 

Should you wish to borrow any money do not hesitate to call upon us. 
We feel sure that our knowledge of the financial standing of all the residents 
of Waynesboro as well as of Washington and Quincy Townships is not excelled 
and you can confidently expect fair and moderate treatment from us when you 
wish to get a loan. 

If any of your friends desire to open a bank account or borrow money, 
we will appreciate it if you will send them to us. 

Very truly yours, 

Cashier. 



TO NEWCOMERS 

FIRST NATIONAL BANK 
Dear Sir: 

This is the very first opportunity we have had to drop in and say, "'How 
do you do!" 

Speaking strictly as neighbors, we are mighty glad to have you with us. 
We are all proud of Blankville, and it feels good to welcome you to a town you 
will be sure to enjoy. 

From a business standpoint, at least for the present, we will be able to 



316 MaoGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

offer you considerable assistance in making your residence here convenient and 
pleasant. The First National Bank's service has been developed to the happy 
stage where its friends secure the maximum satisfaction on a minimum of effort. 
We are located on the northwest corner of Fifth and North streets — right on 
the Putnam avenue trolley line. Nothing could please us more than a little in- 
formal chat with you when you find yourself completely settled. 

Yours truly, 

Cashier. 



LOS ANGELES TRUST AND SAVINGS BANK 

Dear Sir: 

Whether you have come to Los Angeles to make your home, for a short visit, 
or have just returned from a vacation or business trip, we believe you will be 
interested in the enclosed booklet, outlining the many forms of financial service 
this large progressive institution affords. 

The Savings, Commercial, Trust and Safe Deposit Departments of "THE 
BANK FOR EVERYBODY" offer a complete banking home, equipped to properly 
care for your every financial need. 

Convenience of location, integrity of management, extent of resources and 
quality of service — all are reasons for choosing this as Your Bank. 

Our officers at the New Accounts Department will be glad of an opportunity 
to demonstrate to you our ability to serve you well in every respect. 

May we hope to see you soon ? 

Yours truly, 

Assistant Cashier. 

P.S. — We have reserved for you a copy of our new map of Los Angeles. It is 
worth coming for. 

FIRST NATIONAL BANK 

TO PARENTS 

Dear Sir and Madam: 

First of all, we desire to congratulate you upon the recent addition to your 
family. W 7 e sincerely hope that health, wealth and happiness shall be the portion 
of your child and that your joy in your offspring may last as long as you live. 

It is because our good wishes are sincere that we take this opportunity 
to suggest to you that you come to this bank as soon as possible and open a 
savings account in your child's name. 

You will take the utmost satisfaction in saving and depositing for your 
child's future. When he is old enough, he will appreciate what you have done 
for him and between the figures in his passbook he will read the story of parental 
love and self-sacrifice. 

Then when he is able himself to earn and save, the lifelong lesson in thrift 
which has been before his eyes so constantly will bear fruit as he reaps the 
moral, physical and financial benefits of a habit of thrift firmly established in 
his life. 

Cordinally yours, 

President. 



Dear Sir and Madam: 

It surely was a pleasant surprise to learn that the . . . (name) . . . family 
had recently been introduced to a new member. Congratulations are certainly in 
order. 

One seldom connects a bank or a banker with such an occasion but, strange 
to say, it is in a semi-professional strain that this letter is written. You may 



BUILDING BANK BUSINESS BY LETTERS 317 

have thought that First National service was restricted to grown-ups — but it 
isn't ! 

At least, it hasn't been since we ran across an idea that is too good to keep. 

It originated with a lucky man like yourself who had just been presented 
with a "bouncing boy." He opened an account with his local bank, in the boy's 
name, and deposited ten dollars. 

"His first present," was his explanation. "We'll continue dropping a little 
in every once in a while. When he needs it, he'll have something to start on." 

Isn't that a splendid thought? We have never seen anything more practical 
or logical. That man started right at the beginning — he not only lays something 
aside for his son when it is easiest for him to do so, but he has also inaugurated a 
powerful object lesson in thrift. It won't take long for that youngster to appreci- 
ate it as he grows older. 

The idea, we repeat, is too good to keep. Perhaps you can make use of it. 
Cordially yours, 

President. 



THE TYLER COUNTY BANK 

Dear Sir: 

Just a few words to you as a parent: 

The success of your children, to a large extent, will depend upon the start 
you give them when they are young. 

It is not so much the amount of money you leave them, as it is the kind 
of habits they learn from you. 

Are you teaching them to save money? 

The thrift habit has been at the root of most business successes. Are you 
going to give your children a start and encouragement along this line? 

The dollar a child saves out of his own pocket money, if placed in a sav- 
ings account in the bank, where he can see it grow means more than just a 
little money saved and put away. It will mean the firm establishment, early in 
life, of the HABIT OF THRIFT,' which will mean a great deal to him all through 
his career. 

One dollar is enough with which to start a savings account here, and it can 
be opened in trust by the parent for his young child. Deposits and withdrawals 
can be made by mail. Four per cent, compound interest. 

Ask for further particulars. 

Very truly yours, 

Cashier. 



FIRST NATIONAL BANK 

Dear Sir: 

How many times one hears the expression "I owe it to my child"? Perhaps 
you are in the habit of using it yourself. 

Such an expression implies a debt and a debt requires a means of payment. 
You take it for granted that you owe support to your child, and rightfully 
consider that you owe him more than just food and shelter. If anyone should 
ask you, you would reply that you want your son or your daughter to have a 
broad education, a good start in a business or profession, and all the wholesome 
pleasures you can afford to give. 

Have you ever thought about providing for the increasing needs of your 
children by establishing a fund to be invested in such a manner that its gradual 
accumulation will enable it to meet and wipe out a debt at its maturity ? 

If you open an account in our Savings Department now, and add something 
to it each week or each month, this fund, plus interest, should be enough to meet 
the needs of your children as they grow older. It is one of the best means of 



318 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

building up this desirable "sinking fund" and distributing heavy expenses over 
a long period of years. 

Will you not give careful consideration to this plan now? 
Yours very truly, 

Cashier. 



THE NEW YEAR 

To Our Depositors and Friends: 

A New Year is here and it is our hope that it may bring you success and 
prosperity. The past few years have seen considerable growth and many im- 
provements, and the coming year promises still further advances in the interests 
of this section. Let us resolve to do what we individually can toward making our 
community a better place to live in by putting the best of ourselves into our 
business relations as well as our personal relations, and working with intelligence 
and industry. 

The statement sent you herewith indicates the present condition of our bank. 
"Safety and Service" are our twin watch-words — our endeavor being to extend 
every facility permitted by unquestionably safe methods; as your interests and 
ours are identical, the good of one being the good of the other — the reverse of 
which is equally true. We handle all business with the utmost promptness and 
privacy and wish all transaction to be entirely satisfactory. 

Should you have a friend or neighbor who desires to open a bank account or 
possibly change a present one • so that it will be more convenient, whether it be 
large or small, checking or interest, we hope you will have come to us, and 
enclose an introduction card for this purpose. Your kindness in this respect will 
be doubled — you will confer a favor on both your friend and us. If each depositor 
were to bring us one or more new accounts it would mean a considerable amount 
of new business for us and help to build up an institution that may serve the 
community in a constantly increasing measure. 

Yours very truly, 

Cashier. 



The First National Bank 

TO RAILROAD MEN 

THE MERCHANTS BANK 
Livingstone, Mont. 
Dear Sir: 

Did you ever give serious thought to the importance of connecting yourself 
with a good bank? 

The benefits are real and practical and such as you will surely appreciate if 
you take advantage of them. The Merchants Bank gives its customers every ad- 
vantage that any bank can give with safety. 

The interests of our customers have personal attention. We try it every 
way to please those who intrust their business to us. 

We would take great pleasure in cashing your railway checks or any other 
checks you may have. 

When you draw your pay, if you wish to avoid spending it all, lay aside just 
enough for present needs; then deposit the balance in our Savings Department 
or Time Deposit Department, in either of which we will allow you a liberal rate 
of interest. 

If you want to send a draft under the amount of $10 to any of your friends, 
we will be glad to accommodate you without charge. 

We specially call your attention to our check account system, which is a 
safe and business-like way of keeping tab on all your expenditures. To pay bills 



BUILDING BANK BUSINESS BY LETTERS 319 

by check means that you are careful in business, and gives you a decided good 
standing in the community. 

We ask you to come in and see us and have a good personal talk along these 
lines. 

We want your business and will be glad to render you courteous treatment. 
Very truly yours, 

Assistant Cashier. 



SAFE DEPOSIT BUSINESS 

THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK 
Dear Sir: 

To show you the importance of using a safe deposit box we want to call 
your attention to a few facts with which you may not be familiar. 

Do you realize that bonds are usually "bearer" instruments, payable to the 
holder both as to principal and interest, and that therefore, when you lose a 
bond it is just like losing so much currency out of your pocket? 

Do you know that, while stock certificates are executed to the owner, they 
are often endorsed in blank when used as collateral, and if lost, can cause the 
owner a lot of trouble, if not actual loss? For one thing, an indemnity bond 
to the amount of twice the value of a lost stock certificate is demanded by the 
company that issued it before it will issue a new one. 

Then there is your mortgage or deed to a farm or other piece of real 
estate. Suppose you lost that through not keeping it in a safe deposit vault. 
What then? 

Your title would still be good, of course, because your deed is recorded. 
But suppose you or your heirs want to borrow on the property or sell it! And 
even if properly filed and recorded, copyists may have made some mistake, and 
then the original document is necessary as evidence. 

Why run the risk of such complications as these and many others that 
could be mentioned, when you can rent a private safe in our massive, impreg- 
nable, fire and burglar-proof vault for as little as $5 a year — less than two cents 
a day? 

Very truly yours, 

Cashier. 



SPECIAL SERVICES 
Dear Sir: 

We know very well that you appreciate the many ways in which we favor 
you; the things that in themselves seem trifles, but which, if not done, would 
cause you inconvenience; things for which we do not charge and for which we 
would not accept any pay. We know you appreciate them, for you have shown 
it by doing the business with us that you have. 

Most every bank that we know anything about opens at nine o'clock and closes 
at four o'clock; this bank has for over twenty years kept open for your accom- 
modation from morning until night; we never close on holidays, for that might be 
the very day you would want to transact some business. We have had other 
banks ask us to close with them on holidays, but we would never do so, and we 
are staying open and taking no holidays, simply to accommodate our customers. 

For your own accommodation and for the pleasure we derive from assisting 
you, we write all of your deeds, mortgages, notes and other legal papers free of 
charge, and we want you to call on us whenever you have any work of this kind 
to be done; Ave also record your deeds and obtain marriage licenses, or look after 
any other business you may have at the Court House. 

Now there are some things you can do to accommodate us, and it will not 
cost you one cent or put you to any inconvenience. We want you to bring your 



320 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

cotton tickets to us to be cashed; it makes no difference to whom you sell or 
where the buyer tells you to go, you can bring the tickets here and cash them. 
This will be an accommodation to us and will be appreciated. 
Our cooler is still full of ice water. 

Very truly yours, 

Cashier. 

Dear Sir: 

While the principal cotton buyers will pay off at this bank, we will cash 
the tickets of any buyers to whom you may sell, it matters not where they may 
tell you to go, and we want our customers to bring their tickets to us always; 
we will give you cash on them or place to your credit, as you may wish, and it 
would be quite a favor to us for you to bring them here. 

You may have some renters who sell cotton; if you have, tell them to leave 
your rent here for you ; we will send you a complete statement of the cotton sold. 

Numbers of our customers have more or less money loaned out in the coun- 
try; if you have any and will leave the notes here with us, we will notify the 
parties, if you wish, and will collect them for you. 

If you have any deeds, mortgages, notes, rent notes, contracts, wills or other 
legal papers that you wish drawn up, come in to us and we will prepare them 
for you without any charge whatever. Sometimes it may not be convenient for 
you to bring your wife to sign the papers ; in cases of this kind we will take 
pleasure in driving out to your home, provided you do not ask us to take any 
pay for it. 

Some of our customers have said that they felt that they were imposing on 
us in matters of this kind; please do not think this, for it is a pleasure for us to 
be of any assistance to you, and we want you to call on us any time we can do 
anything for you. 

Very truly yours, 

Cashier. 



TO WOMEN 
NO. 1 
Dear Madam : 

I have taken up with Mr. (Cashier) the matter of inviting you to open an 
account with us and I am sending you my card of introduction to him. 

I hope you will find it possible to stop in and look over our bank and make 
his acquaintance very soon. 

I might add that this bank is in splendid condition to handle your account 
and I wish to call your attention to these facts: that we are a commercial bank, 
owned and controlled by the officers and directors of this corporation and not 
affiliated with any other financial institution. All questions are answered 
promptly and without appeal to any one else. Courtesies are extended freely, 
consistent with sound banking. 

If Mr. Cashier should be out when you call, I shall be glad to have you ask 
for me. Very truly yours, 

President. 

NO. 2 

Dear Madam: 

Some time ago I sent you my card of introduction to our cashier. I have 
not heard from you and Mr. Beard informs me that you have not called on him. 
We both would like to have you open an account with us and I personally assure 
you that I will go out of my way to make it pleasant for you. 

As you know, every bank has a different way of extending courtesies, and we 
believe our methods will appeal to you. The personal element is very strong here 



BUILDING BANK BUSINESS BY LETTERS 321 

and the fact that the management is vested in the active heads, enables us to 
favor promptly, which is quite impossible in the bulky financial institution. 

If you find the demands on your time prevent you from coming to see us, 
then I or some one from the bank will call on you, if you will kindly send your 
card with a date and hour written on it. 

I hope I shall have the pleasure of hearing from you soon. 
Yours very truly, 

President. 



THE WACHOVIA BANK AND TRUST COMPANY 

Dear Madam : 

It is always in season and ''good style" to talk to you of your own affairs 
in relation to banking, of which the average woman is not so well informed as 
she should be. 

A woman performs her duties so nobly that she becomes an inspiration and 
a force that holds men to that which is best and noblest in life. 

Every woman owes a duty to herself and to her children as well in learning 
something of business and business methods. 

Banks are the only institutions helpful to women in the careful and prudent 
handling of her money matters. Banks are easily reached and glad to co-operate 
and serve. 

First, a bank account with this institution is a convenience. It is simple and 
safe and it gives you a record of all transactions. If you are wealthy, it proves 
of great usefulness. If you have saved, this bank gives you a plan to increase 
the saving. This saving permits of the gratification of some cherished fancy or 
becomes of great value in the day when ready money is a necessity. Saving and 
spending through the bank gives business ideas and information that will stand 
every woman in good stead in a day when, upon her own knowledge, depends the 
proper management of her finances. 

Then, the future of the children depends on their knowledge of the value of 
money, so. if there is any woman who needs bank protection and advice con- 
ducive to business training, you are that woman, for it not only helps you, but 
enables you to train your child along a very essential line. 

Read this letter again carefully. Consider it and remember you must act 
and that the Wachovia Bank and Trust Company is ready to help. 

Yours truly, 

Advertising Manager. 



THE NATIONAL CITY BANK 
Dear Madam: 

We feel that the women who have been doing their banking business with us 
during the past year and perhaps longer, have added materially to the efficiency 
of our bank, and as it would be quite a task for me to meet each one personally 
and express the favorable influence her business has had on our success, I am 
taking this opporunity of writing to you our appreciation of your interest in 
our institution, and trust that you have received from us during the year just 
closing courteous treatment and satisfactory service. 

We know that at times puzzling questions arise in reference to a bank 
account, and it will.give me, as well as the other officers of the bank, pleasure to 
be of service in making plain what cannot be readily understood. Perhaps you 
would be glad to help us further by speaking a word of commendation to any 
of your women friends who are seeking a bank connection. We will appreciate 
the favor and thank you. 

As a reminder of the holiday season and for service during the coming year, 
we have prepared a useful and attractive pencil which we would like our women 



322 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

customers to use. One of these pencils has been laid side for you and our pay- 
ing teller will be glad to deliver it either to you in person or on your order. 

Sincerely yours, 

President. 



TO DORMANT ACCOUNTS 

THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK 
Dear Sir: 

For some time now there has been no deposit or withdrawal on your account 
with this bank and we do not know just what your banking arrangements are 
at present. 

Consequently we are taking the liberty to send you our latest statement and 
to call your attention to a few special features of the service we render, some 
of which you may have overlooked. Perhaps you have never really given us a 
chance to show how helpful we can be to you in your business and financial 
affairs. We want to remind you of a few points of our service, as follows : 

Business Information, Advice, Letters of Credit, Foreign Drafts, Telegraphing 
Money, Making Collections, the Checking Privilege — in short, every convenience 
and facility of a modern banking institution. 

In addition to these, we have a fireproof and burglar-proof safe deposit vault 
of the most up-to-date type, with rental for private boxes as low as $5 a year. 

We hope that it may be possible for us to resume our former pleasant rela- 
tions, and we would be glad to welcome you at the bank for that purpose. 

Cordially yours, 

Cashier. 



BANKING BY MAIL 
Dear Sir: 

In choosing a bank for your savings, you naturally wish to select an institu- 
tion that not only pays a liberal rate of interest, but one which is also as sound 
and secure as large capital and surplus, conservative management and strict bank- 
ing laws can make it. 

In our former correspondence we have demonstrated the advantages of our 
system of "Banking by Mail," and we now take pleasure in setting forth briefly 
why the Citizen's Savings and Trust Company enjoys the full confidence of the 
country at large : 

First: It is one of the strongest financial institutions in the United States 
and is the oldest and largest trust company in the State of Ohio. 

Second : Its capital and surplus, which stand as security to depositors, 
amounts to over six and one-half million dollars, while its total resources exceed 
fifty million dollars. 

Third: It has conducted a successful savings bank business for forty-four 
years and its board of directors consists of representative Cleveland citizens, 
whose integrity and financial standing are unquestioned. 

Any amount down to one dollar will open an account drawing four per cent, 
interest, compounded twice a year. Send your deposit by money order, draft or 
check, made payable to the Citizens Savings and Trust Company. You will im- 
mediately receive a pass-book showing the amount deposited to your credit. 

Yours very truly, 

Treasurer. 

THE TYLER COUNTY BANK 
Dear Sir: 

Figures are usually quite dry reading, but here are some which ought to be 
of personal interest to you: 



BUILDING BANK BUSINESS BY LETTERS 323 

At four per cent, compound interest in a savings account, your money in 
twenty years would grow like this: 

Yrs. $5. $25. $100. 



1 


5.20 


26.00 


104.04 


2 


5.40 


27.04 


108.24 


3 


5.60 


28.12 


112.60 


4 


5.80 


29.24 


117.12 


5 


6.00 


30.40 


121.84 


6 


6.24 


31.62 


126.74 


7 


6.48 


32.88 


131.84 


8 


6.72 


34.18 


137.14 


9 


6.96 


35.54 


142.66 


10 


7.22 


36.96 


148.40 


15 


8.70 


44.94 


180.80 



20 10.50 54.64 220.26 

The above table shows very clearly what a substantial aid compound interest 
is to the work of building up a competence. 

The important thing for you to do now is to start a savings account in this 
strong bank, where your money will be safe and steadily at work in your behalf. 
Deposits and withdrawals can be made easily by mail. 

Yours very truly, 

Cashier. 



Dear Sir: 

Referring to your recent inquiry, we are pleased to send you some additional 
printed matter about the Franklin Society. We hope you will find it convenient 
to read the enclosed leaflets and invite your attention respectfully to these facts: 

1. The Society has a long and honorable business record, this being its 
twenty-first year in its present office location in the City of New York. 

2. The Society is by law subject to the strict supervision of the State 
Superintendent of Banks, its books and securities being examined in detail, at 
least once a year, by a Public Examiner. 

3. You do not speculate when you invest your savings in the Franklin 
Society. Your money goes into first mortgages on small homes, in a vicinity 
where population is growing faster than else^iere in the world. 

4. The Society has savings members in many States. Deposits earn from 
the first of the month following each deposit. We issue a little pass book that 
makes it very easy for you to save by mail. 

Yours very truly, 

Cashier. 



PEOPLES SAVINGS BANK AND TRUST COMPANY 

Dear Sir : 

We are pleased to send you some reading matter about our bank and bank- 
ing-by-mail, as you have requested. You can deposit any amount of one dollar 
or more. It will draw interest at the rate of 4 per cent., compounded semi- 
annually. 

"A Pioneer Bank" tells briefly the interesting story of a bank which began 
with the Western Country and has grown with it. "It is a part of the soil," so 
closely is it identified with this Western Country. 

"Our Savings Bank at Your Door" describes the easy way of banking-by- 
mail. In the back you will find a slip which please sign and mail to us with 



324 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

your deposit. We will return pass book to you together with forms of letters 
for deposits, reciepts for withdrawing funds, and addressed envelopes. 
We sincerely hope we may have the pleasure of a deposit from you. 

Yours truly, 

Treasurer. 



ON MAKING A WILL 
TITLE GUARANTEE AND TRUST COMPANY 

^asV July a friend of ours was taken ill, but his condition was not considered 
at all dangerous. He had been moderate in his habits and lived an active out- 
door life. While he was confined to his room he had time to think of many 
things which the rush of affairs previously had prevented. He decided to make a 
will" so he sent for a lawyer and explained that he wanted certain properties to 
co to a favorite nephew, who had recently married. Also what he wanted done 
with other portions of his estate and how the family heirlooms were to be dis- 

1 Mr S was still sick in bed when the will was finished, but he and the lawyer 
went over it together and it was pronounced satisfactory and witnesses were 
called in Mr. S. said, "Wait a minute till I change my position so that 1 can 
write more comfortably and I will sign the will." He gave his pillow a push, sat 
up in bed, reached for the pen, but before he could put the pen to paper, he fell 
back dead. He had no idea of going then or for years to come His wishes as 
expressed in the will were not carried out because it was not executed. Me 

waited too long. , , n , 

Whv not make provsion while you are strong and well for the care of yom 
estate? If an accident happens, or if you are ill, you will not then be worried 
about things that might have been provided for. A will is not irrevocable. Its 
provisions can be changed by the maker whenever he wishes. We haye^a booklet 
about trust and executorships that may interest you. We will send it to you tor 

the asking. 

Yours truly, 

Manager Trust Department. 

ON THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM 
FIRST NATIONAL BANK 

Dear \Vhen you become a depositor in the First National Bank you contribute 
directly to the strength of the Federal Reserve System-made up of the 8000 
or more member banks, while at the same time you secure the great protection 
afforded by its billion dollars of resources. ■ 

Co-operation is one of the foundation principles of the Federal Reserve 
Bank, of which this company is a member. We own stock in it. We keep 
our reserve cash in it. We have a voice in electing its directors and through 
them in choosing its management. 

Our depositors, in turn, co-operate with us in maintaining the Federal Re- 
serve Banking System, but without cost to them, inasmuch as part of every 
dollar deposited with us goes directly into the Federal Reserve Bank, where 
it is always ready for the depositor when wanted. 

Throu-h our membership in this system we are placed in a stronger position 
than ever before to take care of the requirements of all our depositors whether 
large or small. Should there ever be special or unexpected need to turn part 
of our sound assets into cash quickly, we are sure of the active co-operation of 
the Federal Reserve Bank to this end. 

You are invited to share in the many advantages that result from bemj 






BUILDING BANK BUSINESS BY LETTERS 325 

part of this great system, which the National Government has provided for the 
benefit of the people. 

Very truly yours, 

President. 



CLOSING ACCOUNTS 

THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK 
Dear Sir: 

It is with a feeling of regret that we note the recent discontinuance of your 
account in our Commercial Department. Should its termination, by chance, have 
been caused by a lack of due courtesy on the part of any of our employees, we 
trust that will not delay in advising us. 

We appreciate in proper measure your consideration and confidence. Should 
you find it convenient to renew business relations with us, we assure you that 
your interests will ever receive our vigilant care, and your desires our prompt 
attention. 

Yours respectfully, 

Cashier. 



LOCAL PRIDE 
Dear Sir : 

As a customer of this bank, you are, of course, interested in its welfare, and 
for that reason I am taking the liberty of writing you this letter. The policy of 
the management of this institution has always been one of friendly interest and 
personal service to its customers. 

You are no doubt familiar with the history of the owners and directors of 
this bank, dating back for more than a generation in this community, during 
which time we have all, both stockholders and customers, labored together for the 
upbuilding of Storm Lake and the surrounding territory. We, today, have a 
bank strictly "A Home Institution," every dollar of its stock being owned in 
Storm Lake and its loans made entirely to local borrowers, for the upbuilding, 
advancement and improvement of this section. 

We are endeavoring to give our customers a service that is in every way 
satisfactory to them — coupled with absolute safety. It is the endeavor of every 
officer and employee to see that the requirements of every customer are properly 
cared for and should anything unpleasant ever occur, I will esteem it a personal 
favor if you report to me, for otherwise I might never hear of it. 

If you have a friend who desires to open a bank account or possibly change 
his present one, whether it be large or small, checking or savings, I hope you 
will have him come to us. Your kindness in this respect will be doubled — you 
will confer a favor both upon your friend and us. If each customer were to 
bring us one or more new accounts, just think what an increased business it 
would mean. 

May I not expect your hearty co-operation in view of the facts as stated 
above, which we promise to merit and to appreciate? 

Very truly yours, 

Cashier. 



COMMERCIAL BANKING 
Dear Sir: 

Investment banking, as compared with commercial banking, has held the at- 
tention of our business community for some time. 

A commercial bank's business is based mainly upon one, two, three or four 
months' notes, which are constantly being made and as constantly paid, because 



326 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

the needs of the makers are continually changing with the production and con- 
sumption of commodities. 

To use commercial funds for investment purposes constitutes investment 
banking, curtails legitimate business enterprises to the same extent, promotes 
speculation, and, if not checked, threatens the very foundation of our economic 
and trade system. The basis of its business is fixed, and its loans upon collateral 
are likely to remain the same for an indefinite period. 

The discounts of a well regulated commercial bank vary with the productive 
interests of the country, and are changing from day to day; maturing notes of 
one branch of industry are used to meet the needs of another. Its assets are 
quick assets and are in liquid form. 

The Penn National Bank is strictly a commercial bank, is under Government 
supervision, clearing-house protection and oversight, and maintains a proper and 
sufficient cash reserve. It is independent of the control of any single interest and 
is able to meet the reasonable needs of its patrons at all times. 

We invite your attention to the enclosed statement and offer you all the 
facilities and advantages of a commercial bank, developed and perfected by eighty 
years of successful service. 

Your personal account, large or small, should have the same protection as 
your business account. 

Very truly yours, 

President. 






CHECKING ACCOUNTS 
THE FIRST MORTGAGE GUARANTY AND TRUST COMPANY 

Dear Sir: 

Not having received any reply to our recent letter on savings, it has just 
occurred to us that you might be interested in opening a checking account in- 
stead of a savings account. 

There are no charges for collection on Philadelphia checks and we accept 
checks or drafts on all cities and towns in the United States without charge for 
collection. 

You can open a checking account by making an initial deposit as low as $50 
and we allow from two to two and one-half per cent, interest on daily balances, 
depending upon the amount of the account and the activity thereof. A good 
healthy balance, with relatively few checks per month, is as well worth two and 
one-half per cent, interest as others are worth two per cent. Some accounts at 
certain seasons are worth three per cent, interest. 

You can make deposits with us by check or draft on any bank in the United 
States or by post office money order or express money order. 

If you will write us regarding your checking account, that is what your daily 
balance would average and the degree of activity in your account, we will be very 
glad to advise you just what rate of interest the account will earn. 

We hope to have the pleasure of hearing from you by return mail. 
Yours truly, 

President. 

INDIVIDUAL SERVICE 

THE MECHANICS BANK 

Are you receiving the proper service and assistance from your bank? 
Is every detail of your banking business being handled in a way that is per- 
fectly satisfactory to you? 

The Mechanics Bank has every facility for attending to your wants properly 



BUILDING BANK BUSINESS BY LETTERS 327 

and promptly. Our splendid building and central location offer you every con- 
venience. 

You may feel free to consult with our officers at any time about any financial 
problem. 

Between our depositors and ourselves exists an intimate, personal bond of 
confidence and co-operation. Many of our customers have told us that this indi- 
vidual service has played an important part in their business success. We aim 
to be genuinely helpful — even beyond the mere routine of ordinary banking 
courtesy. 

This service we place at your disposal. Backed by the ample security and 
complete facilities of The Mechanics Bank, it is worth your careful consideration. 

If you are thinking of changing or enlarging your banking connections, Mr. 
Frisbie or I would be very glad to talk it over with you. 

Yours very truly, 

President. 

P. S. — We maintain a special department and service for ladies. 



THE PERSONAL TOUCH 
Dear Sir: 

I wonder what feature of a bank's service you consider most important. 

Prompt, personal, courteous attention to your interests by every officer and 
employe. Do you know of anything more important than that? 

You want, of course, perfect safety for your funds. The Mechanics Bank is 
strong and secure. It is also centrally located and excellently equipped. 

But, above all, the feature of our service which will appeal to you most is 
the close cordial relation existing between our depositors and our officers and 
employes. 

You will never encounter any unnecessary delays in transacting business with 
us. There is no useless "red tape" — no stiff, unbending formality. 

We especially pride ourselves upon the promptness with which we pass upon 
loans. Such applications are passed upon immediately but carefully. We never 
depart from safe banking methods, but liberality and courtesy are always our 
unfailing aim. 

If you make inquiries among our depositors, you will find why it will be to 
your advantage to open an account with us. Mr. Frisbie or I shall be pleased to 
discuss the matter with you at any time, if you are thinking of changing or en- 
larging your banking facilities. 

Yours very truly, 

President. 



GENERAL LETTERS 



THE EXCHANGE TRUST COMPANY 
Dear Sir: 

If you are contemplating any change in your banking connections or the 
separation of your personal from your business account, the Exchange Trust 
Company presents several important reasons for asking the privilege of becom- 
ing your depositary: 

It is a commercial bank. 

It is independent of any other financial institution. 

It does not underwrite or participate in any syndicate propositions. 

Its officers are accessible to and personally interested in the depositors. 

Its policy is to loan its funds to depositors to the limit of safety, not to 
officers or directors. 

Its relations with the depositors are strictly confidential. 



328 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

It pays interest on checking accounts of $300 or over and special arrange- 
ments made for trust funds and time deposits. 

Its banking rooms are centrally located, and arrangements can be made for 
late deposits. 

A representative will call if desired. 
Opposite State Street Tunnel Terminal. 

Yours respectfully, 

Treasurer. 



UNION SAVINGS BANK AND TRUST COMPANY 

Dear Sir: 

The three chief things that a business man demands of his bank are: 
SECURITY, CONVENIENCE, SERVICE. 

Each of these is afforded in a high degree by the Union Savings Bank and 
Trust Company. 

As to Security. Twenty years old; capital and surplus, $125,000; directors 
are prominent in the business life of the city and meet frequently to confer on 
the affairs of the bank; officers are able, conservative and experienced; bank ex- 
amined twice a year by the State banking authorities and twice by the directors. 

As to Convenience. This bank is located near the place of business of every 
one to whom this letter is sent. Our banking room is commodious, well lighted 
and convenient in every way. 

As to Service. Every equipment and system for facilitating the business of 
the bank and its customers is in use here. Customers are sure of prompt and 
accurate service and courteous treatment. Our officers are easily approachable 
and glad to advise customers in banking and financial matters. Dealing each day 
with men in all lines, they are constantly in touch with specific as well as gen- 
eral conditions. The members of our staff will treat you with courtesy and handle 
your business with accuracy and dispatch. 

Please drop in and see us or ask us to call on you. We want to meet you, 
and we believe our acquaintance would prove mutually beneficial. Let us show 
you just how we can help you in your business and financial affairs. 

Very cordially yours, 

Cashier. 



NATIONAL CITY BANK 

Dear Sir: 

A few days ago there came to my desk from one of our bank correspondents 
a small book called "Mr. Brown's Experience," giving in the form of a very read- 
able story an account of how this Mr. Brown and his family required and were 
well served by the facilities of this particular up-to-date institution. It would be 
too long to give you this story in a short letter, although I know you would be 
interested in it, but I would like to tell you in a few words what the National 
City Bank of New Rochelle can do for you and how you can use its various 
departments to your advantage. 

To begin with, I feel you ought to know what kind of a bank I am offering 
you for your consideration and I am enclosing a copy of the latest statement 
made to the Comptroller of the Currency at Washington, which gives in a con- 
densed form the standing of the bank at this time. On the page opposite the 
statement are some facts in reference to our business which you will find inter- 
esting. 

Besides our Commercial or Business Department, which you should see and 
use to appreciate, especially the Ladies' Room, we have an Interest or Savings 
Department, where all members of the family can have accounts. 

Our Safe Deposit Vaults and our large room for the storage of valuables 



BUILDING BANK BUSINESS BY LETTERS 329 

are the most complete in the county, and we have been told the finest in the 
State of New York outside of New York City. 

.Further, when you or any of your family or friends are going traveling 
either in this country or abroad, we can serve you well in providing for the safe 
conveyance of your money by either Travelers' Cheques, Foreign Drafts or Let- 
ters of Ciedit. In Short, whatever you may need in the banking line, call and see 
us about it, for we can supply your wants. 

Let me add in closing that an account with this bank will be a sufficient in- 
troduction to allow you to bring before our Discount Committee the matter of a 
loan if you should need it. 

Trusting that the opening of the spring, which will soon be with us, may 
bring with it the prosperity which seems also near at hand, and that we may 
both enjoy some of the benefits, I remain, as ever, 

Sincerely yours, 

President. 



THE WEST END SAVINGS BANK AND TRUST COMPANY 

Dear Sir: 

"Is it a good bank?" 

That is the question which one naturally asks when a new banking connection 
is proposed. 

A good bank is one which combines strength and service in a high degree, 
and that is what the West End Savings Bank and Trust Company does. It has 
large surplus and undivided profits, a very efficient staff of experienced officers 
and employees, and a modern building with an up-to-date equipment. 

Genuinely "constructive banking" is our aim, and we emphasize the business- 
building service which we extend to our depositors. 

Do you realize that a good banking connection, with all that it implies, may 
mean the difference between success and failure in your business? 

We have known of many instances where a business, started by men of little 
means, but of integrity and ability, has, through wise banking connections, 
become strong and prosperous. 

This bank is able to help you in such a way that you can get better results 
from your own efforts. Dealing each day with men in various lines, our officers 
are constantly in touch with conditions in every trade and industry. 

Frequently we are able to put our customers in possession of facts that bring 
them profit or save them loss. 

This bank has helped a large number of business men, both in times of pros- 
perity and in periods of storm and stress. 

We offer a bank large enough to inspire the confidence of its customers, but 
not too large to give every consideration to the interests of every customer. 

The undersigned would be glad to meet you personally to talk over your 
banking requirements. 

Very truly yours, 

Cashier. 



THE BLANK TRUST COMPANY 
Dear Sir: 

If we were to offer you $100 as a gift you would be interested as to what 
prompted the generosity. If to bank here may mean the saving of many times 
that sum each year, isn't the proposition still more interesting? 

Letting well enough alone is not a good business and you have not suc- 
ceeded along that line. What was good enough yesterday is changed, until to- 
day, you know better the needs of your patrons and endeavor to better supply 
them. This builds your business. 



330 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

Many a merchant's business has been saved — saved by this bank. 

Some explanation and description of the methods of this bank are worth 
while. 

It is built for safety. Its paid in capital is $1,250,000. Safety, then, is the 
first consideration. Next, in order to succeed, the bank must render patrons 
an accurate and helpful banking service that it may draw business — your business 
— the business of others. Some say that any bank will do. Would any goods 
you might buy answer for your trade? We insist that there is a difference in 
banks, just as there is a difference in merchants. 

More than 15,000 persons have selected this bank because of the protection, 
service and helpfulness it offers them. 

Suppose you desire to give a reference — one from this, the State's strongest 
bank, certainly means something. 

Suppose you seek information relative to increasing your stock or making 
some business change. It is reasonable that our officers, being familiar with all 
lines cf trade, can advise you so that loss may be avoided and no mistake made. 

Suppose you carry a checking account here — a part of the money is not 
needed for a time — our Savings Department or a CertLicate of Deposit, con- 
vertible into cash at any time, will prove very satisfactory. 

You might wish to invest in some good stock or bond — our Bond Depart- 
ment possesses helpful information and will gladly assist you in securing just 
what is desired. 

You wish to name an executor for your estate. Our Trust Department never 
dies. It carries out every provision of the will to the letter at the lowest pos- 
sible cost to the estate. 

Whatever you need in banking you will find here. Fill out the enclosed de- 
posit ticket with the amount with which you desire to open an account. What 
you need we can render. Are you going to be with us? 

Yours truly, 

Advertising Manager. 



In a certain Pennsylvania bank it is a rule that "two weeks or so 
after a man opens an account, he is ssnt the following letter : 

Dear Sir: 

As you were among those who contributed to the satisfactory growth of this 
bank during the past month, I take this opportunity to thank you for the deposit 
with which you have entrusted us. 

The bank is the department store of finance, and we trust you will give us 
further opportunity to serve you in other departments of this financial store. 
Our modern building and equipment enable us to meet every demand of a finan- 
cial nature. 

The man on the outside quite frequently sees ways in which the public could 
be better served, and we ask your co-operation in our aim to give efficient bank- 
ing service. Any suggestions you may have to offer, whether arising from your 
own personal needs or from your observation of the wants of others, will always 
be welcome. 

As a depositor of this bank you are doubtless interested in its continued 
growth and development. Will you favor us with the names of any who you 
think might be induced to give us their business? The enclosed form is for that 
purpose, and we will appreciate the confidence you will show us in using it. 

Again thanking you for your business, I am, 
Respectfully yours, 

Cashier. 



BUILDING BANK BUSINESS BY LETTERS 331 

A large percentage of the new customers who receive the letter and 
blank send in lists of their friends, to whom is mailed the following 
letter : 

Dear Sir: 

A friend of yours does his banking business with us. He is well enough 
pleased with this bank to have his friends deal here, and gave us your name as a 
prospective customer. 

From the enclosed folder you may get some idea of the banking facilities at 
your command here — perhaps you have heard of them through your friend — but 
it takes a personal visit to fully appreciate them. 

I extend to you a cordial invitation to call just as soon as convenient, and 
assure you it will be a pleasure to me to show you through our new building. 
Bring your friends with you. It will be well worth the trip, just to see how a 
modern bank is equipped. 

You will find the officers right in the front, glad to greet old friends and 
eager to meet new ones. Come in and we will make you feel at home. 

Cordially yours, 

President. 

As new accounts are opened, the names are easily checked with the 
list secured from the forms enclosed with the first letter. The names 
secured from the forms make up a live list that may be followed up 
with advertising literature and letters. 



CHAPTER X 
MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 

FROM time to time, bankers ask how to secure the full co-opera- 
tion of employees in backing up the bank's advertising and in 
making good to the public on the promises made therein. 
For this purpose, the following talk may be used as an address or let- 
ter to the staff : 

GETTING EMPLOYEES TO BACK UP THE ADVERTISING 

To Our Employees: 

Undoubtedly you have noticed the newspaper and other advertising which 
our bank has been doing lately. 

That is the outward and visible sign that this institution wants to grow 
and that it is eager to increase the number of customers in its various depart- 
ments. 

This letter is being sent to all employees with the purpose of soliciting their 
special efforts not only to help us get more business, but having gotten it, to 
keep it. 

We believe that this is possible if every member of this organization will 
take it upon himself or herself to back up the promises we make in our adver- 
tising and in the personal solicitation of the officers. 

Perhaps some of you whose daily work does not bring you into contact, or 
even frequent touch, with customers and the general public, may feel that there 
isn't much that you can do to help the cause along. 

If you will give the matter a little thought, we are sure you will come 
to a different conclusion. For example, suppose you are an individual book- 
keeper, or engaged in some work where a mistake on your part might cause loss 
or embarrassment to a customer. Can you not see how important and valuable 
your accuracy is in preventing such errors which frequently lose a bank a good 
depositor ? 

Then in case your work does bring you into contact with customers across 
the counters or otherwise, is it not very plain to you how all-important is the 
matter of courteous treatment of persons who are doing business with us? 

One of the greatest merchants this country ever produced was Marshall Field 
of Chicago. A business maxim which he impressed upon his employees was, 
"The customer is always right." 

Now, in our business, whenever any question comes up between a customer 
and the bank, we want to start off with the assumption that the customer is 
right. It may turn out in the end that he is not, but it ought to be our 
policy to handle the matter in such a way that, whether right or wrong in any 
particular instance, the customer remains a friend of the institution and does 
not become a dissatisfied customer. We can borrow with profit another good 
proverb from the mercantile field, namely, "A pleased customer is the best 
advertisement." 

In these after-the-war times of re-adjustment, competition is going to be 
more severe in many lines. Our bank is going to have to work harder to get 

332 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 333 

and hold business; you employees are going to find the competition for your 
places a little more pressing than it has been. We want to take back all our 
boys who went into military service, and we want also to keep such of our 
new workers as are making good. If the general business situation becomes satis- 
factory, and if the organized efforts we are making to secure new customers 
prove resultful, we hope to maintain a full force of employees, but if our volume 
of business does not warrant that, naturally it will be a cast of the survival 
of the fittest. As better service tends to make better business, larger profits for 
the company's stockholders, and greater rewards for us workers, let us adopt 
these words — 

Accuracy, Courtesy, Efficiency — as the watchwords of our bank. 

An Iowa bank, to induce all of its emploj-ees to study the advertis- 
ing of the institution, uses this argument : 

That any one, part of an institution the success of which depends largely 
upon solicited patronage, may be able to treat that patronage, and the public 
back of it, according to promises made and inducements held out by that insti- 
tution, he must be fully informed as to those promises and familiar with the 
policy that prompts them, and the result sought to be attained, and must be in 
full and sympathetic accord therewith, and instant to fulfill promises and carry 
out the policies of, and support the management responsible for them. 

To that end, that one, besides being familiar with the policy of the manage- 
ment and understanding the results sought, must be familiar with circulars and 
advertising matter issued by the bank from time to time. 



STOCKHOLDERS CO-OPERATION 

In many cases, the stockholders of a banking institution are en- 
tirely neglected as a source of new business efforts on the part of the 
bank. This is strange when it is considered that these persons have 
very special reason to want to see their institution grow and prosper. 

Following are some points which might well be emphasized in call- 
ing to the attention of bank stockholders their duty and opportunity 
along the line of securing new business for the institution in which 
they have an investment interest : 

Many persons are of the opinion, whether rightly or wrongly, that 
a bank is kind of a cold storage house for money, that the banker's 
marble heart is just as much a part of the regular equipment of the in- 
stitution as the marble counters and bronze grille work that custom- 
arily separate the bank people from the public they are supposed to 
serve. The tellers' cages, they believe, are analogous to those built 
for the wild animals in the zoo — fully as much for the protection of 
the public as to safeguard the teller and his cash. They fear that 
if there were no cage, an angry teller might get out and bite a cus- 
tomer who has endorsed the wrong end of a check or made a mistake 
on his deposit slip. This is an impression that stockholders can do a 
lot to overcome. 



334 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

In striving to get new business it goes without saying that yon are 
working for your own benefit. If your bank is to increase its earn- 
ing power and thus be able to pay larger dividends and add to its sur- 
plus and undivided profits, all parties interested must co-operate. 

If you are a stockholder of a bank but not a depositor therein, 
keeping your account in some other bank where you have no invest- 
ment interest whatever, you are simply helping to increase the earn- 
ing power of somebody else's capital, and not your own. 

You can co-operate in this matter as you should in at least three 
ways : 

1. By maintaining as large a balance as possible and doing as much business 
yourself with the bank as you can. 

2. By speaking favorably of the bank whenever and wherever possible. 

3. By bringing new customers into the bank and introducing them to the 
officers. 

Having a bank account is an open sesame to all the many privileges 
and facilities the modern banking institution has to offer. When you 
have induced a man to establish relations with a good bank and make 
himself and his business methods thoroughly known to his banker, you 
have helped to set him on the right road towards financial success. 
It is the path which most successful men have followed and are fol- 
lowing. 

It is patriotic to encourage personal thrift and economical business 
methods now. The more bank depositors and the larger bank deposits 
there are in the community and the country at large, the more general 
and permanent is our local and national prosperity. 

As a bank stockholder, there rests upon you a double liability in 
case anything goes wrong. So you have a double responsibility to see 
that ever3'thing goes right. But another interpretation that can be 
put on the expression "double liability of stockholders" is that they 
should work for the good of their bank to help both themselves and 
others. 

A useful booklet issued by the Trust Department of the National 
Bank of Commerce, St. Louis, is called "The Stockholder and His 
Bank." It cites the various ways a stockholder may help build up 
his bank, and concludes — 

That is what a stockholder can do for his bank. There are many reasons 
why he should do it — first of all, because it is his bank. He would not fail to put 
the full force of his influence behind the business which is under his personal 
direction. He realizes the importance of patronage to that business; and he 
leaves no stone unturned in obtaining it. He loses no opportunity to give his 
friends and acquaintances a favorable impression of that business — because it is 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 335 

his own. Yet, in a lesser degree, the bank is his business, too. He owns a part 
of it. If it profits, he profits. 

A good spirit of co-operation is manifested in a paragraph of a let- 
ter sent out to stockholders by the world's largest trust company. It 
reads : 

As a stockholder, you are naturally interested in the success of the Guaranty 
Trust Co., and we want you to know that we are endeavoring to develop your 
company along broad and constructive lines; to enlarge our facilities so that 
we may render service to our customers as well as make profits for our stock- 
holders; and also to pursue a policy that will make us important factors in 
furthering the nation's interests. 



GETTING CUSTOMERS TO CO-OPERATE 

Francis R. Morison has this to say concerning co-operation from 
customers : 

Dear Sir: 

It has always seemed strange to me that so many bankers do practically 
nothing to retain and develop business from present customers. Certainly a man 
or woman who is already doing business with one department of a bank is a bet- 
ter prospect for another department than an outsider and can be secured at less 
cost. For example, feAv bankers analyze their list of safe deposit box renters 
to ascertain how many persons fail to carry bank accounts and the reason why. 
Then, too, the list of bank depositors is perhaps the biggest field which can be 
profitably cultivated and it is the one which is generally the most shamefully 
neglected. On the theory that a satisfied customer is the best advertisement it 
goes without saying that a depositor who is not only satisfied but pleased with 
the service he is receiving will go out of his way to become a booster and will, 
at every opportunity, speak a good word on behalf of the bank. Right here, 
however, let me say that as a general rule depositors will not do this unless a 
systematic plan of inviting this co-operation is devised and put into operation. 

There are many ways of doing this — personal letters, enclosures with monthly 
statements or balanced pass-books, letters to those who open new accounts, those 
who close out their accounts, those whose balances are inactive, and last, but 
not least, special letters to borrowers. These borrowers might take the stand 
that they are doing the bank a favor when it loans them money, but down in 
their hearts they know that the bank has been of valuable assistance to them in 
the development of their own business and especially when properly reminded, 
they are only too glad to show their appreciation in a substantial manner by 
directing new business to the institution. 

EDUCATING THE PUBLIC 

The banks and trust companies of the country, while advertising 
their own services, are doing a good deal toward the financial, economic 
and business education of the people at large by means of the many 
booklets and other publications issued by them. This is especially 
true in connection with some of the larger city institutions. 

Take for instance, the Irving National Bank of New York, which 
put out a book entitled, "Trading with the Far East," the fourth 



336 MaoGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

volume issued in the Irving 's foreign trade series. This volume was 
designed to further America's import and export relations with the 
countries of the Orient and in the interest of greater usefulness in 
future efforts of American houses going into the foreign field. 

In order to give a comprehensive idea of the scope of such bank 
publications, there is presented herewith the list of pamphlets for 
free distribution by this one Bank : 

The Trade Acceptance a National Asset. 

Federal Tax Law of 1917. 

The Influence of the War on Trade — Domestic and. Foreign. 

The Trade Acceptance in National Preparedness. 

American Banking in Foreign Trade. 

War Time Finances. 

The Trade Acceptance Nationally Launched. 

Government Price Fixing and Profit Taxation. 

The Financial Aspect of Cotton. 

Practical Questions and Answers on the Trade Acceptance Method. 

The Relation of Industrial Chemistry to Banking. 

Trade Acceptance Progress. 

Federal Reserve Act as Amended with Regulations and Analyses. 

The Efficiency of War and Peace. 

Government Loans and Inflation. 

A Trade Acceptance Review. 

Trade and the War. 

Broadening the Vision of the American Business Man. 

The Trade Acceptance in Conserving the Nation's Resources. 

The Course of Bond Prices. 

Foreign Trade Thought of 1918. 

Co-operative Organization. 

Business Problems of Reconstruction. 

Federal Tax Taw of 1918, and 

Co-operative Service in Foreign Trade. 

NEWS AND ADVERTISING 

The recent ' ' crime wave ' ' has afforded many texts for bank adver- 
tisements. 

Begarding the newspaper clipping containing the safe deposit ad- 
vertisement in juxtaposition to news items regarding robberies, C. K. 
Withers, trust officer of the Mechanics National Bank, Trenton, New 
Jersey, wrote : 

I am enclosing copy of an advertisement and surrounding news items directly 
responsible for the renting of seven safe deposit boxes. 

After reading of the Whitehead burglary in the morning "Gazette," I im- 
mediately drew up the safe deposit ad., leaving it with the "Times" with the un- 
derstanding that it would appear next to that paper's item on the robbery in 
the afternoon. They went me one better, and found two other robberies, with 
the result that the ad. made a very forceful appeal, having many times the ad- 
vertising value of an advertisement standing alone. The layout copy is not as 
I would have it, but the time between the morning and afternoon editions of 
the paper was so limited as to prevent my seeing proof before publication. 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS -337 

A little of the newspaper reporter's "nose for news" is not a bad 
thing for bankers who advertise. 

There are many events of daily life recorded day by day in the 
newspapers which can be turned to advertising advantage by a wide- 
awake bank publicity man. Even a great calamity, snch as a fire, can 
be made an occasion to show the great service which banks are pre- 
pared to render the community. 

It is a good plan for bank advertisers to make a practice of clipping 



MUST BUILD 10115 
IN HHHOlin 

Slate Association Will Form 

Nucleus of County and 

City Organization. 



tax on vehicles 
And automobiles 



IState Senator Lassiter SiiggesU| 
Plan lo Meet Interest on Bond:-. 
Robert W. Wither! Is Presi- 
dent of New OrganizSV 



sew urgamen- i 

evrtoproeotof 

r Highways. 





Build the road to your future financial independence by starting an 
account with this strong and conservative banljing institution. 

Forty-four years of continual success demonstrates our conservatism, 
enabling us to amass the largest Surplus and Profits of any National 
Eank south of Washington, D. C, which constitutes a greater protection 
to the depositor than is offered by any similar institution. 

Your account is solicited, whether large or small. Three pet cent 
interest paid on savings accounts compounded semi-annually from date 
of deposit 

* Planters National Bank 

RICHMOND. VIRGINIA. 

Capital, $ 300,000.00 

Surplus and Profits, • • $1,150,000.00 

OFFICERS: 




News and advertising 

articles from magazines, newspapers, etc., which they think may at any 
time come in handy in the preparation of advertising matter. This 
plan is especially advantageous for savings bank advertisers as there 
is a large amount of matter published on the subject of saving. It is 
often possible to take an incident or an idea from such an article and 
work up a good advertisement from it. This will add to the interest 
and variety of your advertising. 

To illustrate the kind of news items which a bank can use to point 
a moral, there are reproduced on the following pages a number of ex- 
tracts from newspapers and copies of "news interest" advertisements: 



FOUND $20,000 IN A BED 

BURGLARS IN SEATTLE SUBURB HIT UPON HIDING PLACE FOR TREASURE 

Seattle, Wash., June 1. — Mrs. George Shea of Duluth, Minn., who 
is visiting her sister, Mrs. John English, at Alki Point, a suburb of 



338 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OP BANK ADVERTISING 



ROB STORE FIFTH 
TIME IN MONTH 

Muschert, Reeves and Company^ 
Again Suffer by Deprecia- 
tions of Thieves 



NEW YORK FURRIERS 
ROBBED BY WOME 




Two young 

tabllahrru 



fifth 



'ithin a month, 

o* Muschert. Reeves & Company, 
North Stockton Street, has been 
robbed. 

The store was entered last eight, 
and damage estimated at $100 was 
caused to tobacco, cigarettes, candy 
and chewing gum, which the thieves 
were unable to cart away. Several 
articles of jewelry were stolen from 
the premium department. The. po- 
lice say the robbery appears to be 
the work of boys. Investigations are 
being made by the police. 

Three weeks ago the store was en- 
tered and 15^900 cigarettes, valued at 
$126, were stolen, and much damage 
caused to groceries. Later in the 
week, the garage waa entered, and 
several keys stolen, -and automobiles 
were tampered -wiUl. Yesterday a 
week,, the store was entered by forc- 
ing a rear window, and kniveSr 
watches, articles of jewelry, cigar- 
ettes and candy were stolen, and cans 
of vegetables were opened and scat- 
tered about the floor. 



Last night, nearly the same line of 
goods was stolen, and a sum of money u. 
was taken from the office. The value* 
of the stolen goods, and those dam-J 
aged, is estimated at $600. f 

THIEF GETS BONDS, / 
CASH, GOLD CHAIN 



; police. In the robbery 
Fred Whitehead, * 195 
■ert. Four Liberty Bo 



-and you may be next! 



--Can you, for the sake of 
$2.50 per year, afford to keep 
your valuables at h-ome 
where they are at all times 
subject to theft or loss by fire? 

Profit by the experience of others — 
Rent a Safe Deposit Box TODAY. 



MECHANICS 

NATIONAL BANN 

West State and Warren Streets 



"Preferred position" 

Seattle, has reported to the police that she has been robbed of $20,000 
in currency. 

Mrs. Shea's husband, who intended to follow her from Duluth, and 
buy property here, shipped the money to her by the Great Northern 
Express Company, which delivered the package to her on Thursday. 
She intended to put the money in a bank at once, but for various rea- 
sons put it off. Yesterday she and her sister decided to visit Seattle to 
see the decorations. She hid the $20,000 between the sheets of a bed. 
On returning' home at night she found that burglars had ransacked 
the house and stolen the treasure. 



PICTURE FRAME BANK "BUSTED' 



Fearing to trust his hoard to any of the local banking institutions, 
Frank Sckolski, South Scranton, Pa., secreted it behind a picture in 
his home. Cue day last week during his temporary absence some en- 
terprising stranger cleaned out the "bank." Frank is now looking 
for a safer place of deposit. 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 339 



He admitted that he had 
oat the entire principal of a trust fund 
of $140,000 held by him for the four 
children of the late Countess Alloc 
i Thnrn rip Fer u ftftnr , ., ■ 



AGED MAN CONFESSED 
LOSING $140,000 ESTATE 

Confession Made on 
Bed Is Read in Court 



Walter Mead, a lawyer, more than 
80 years of age, made a confession six 
weeks before his death on January 4 
last, at nla home. 154 Hewea street 



jama Court today. /It had been made 



response to a court order requiring 
Mead to re nder an Acco unting of hla. 
tnisteeshln>fo Warren Leslie, the ref- 



eree appointed In the suit of Mrs. Alice 
Mansfield of London, a daughter of the 
Countess, against Mead to obtain the 
accounting. 

When Mead died his widow, as his 
executrix, was made defendant In the 
action. 

The trustee told the referee that he 
had received $140,815^2 from Stevens. 

"The entire principal of the trust," 
the old lawyer confessed, "was Invest- 
ed from time to time In stocks and 
bonds authorized by the will and with- 
out °P>' nofllP-ppcc nr fraud r.n mv 

DaxL/The precise details of these In- 
vestments, the dateB and the receipts 
I cannot state. My Inability Is due, 
I believe, to my advanced years, cou- 
pled with recent physical and mental 
afflictions. I have suffered two strokes 
of paralysis, which have not only al- 
most Incapacitated me, but havft im. 
pa ired mv me nf ,al ffltfulUfli^r I have 
no method of ascertaining facts relat- 
ing to these matters. The men with 
whom I transacted business in relation 
to this estate In the past seem, as far 

as I am sh]p tn Uarn tn he all 



The records that I kept 
inadvertently destroyed bv ~ 



■] am confident however that in/the 



unfortunate investments which vets/ 
made by me in flood faith/ the principal 
of this fund was swept away more 
than fifteen years'ago. I do know that 
up to within a short time before the 
institution of these proceedings I kept 
up the payments of $400 per month for 
the beneficiaries of this trust out of 
my own means and in the hope that I 
might some day be able to earn the 
entire principal of the fund. My ad- 
vancing years and my physical and 
mental Illness prevented me* from ac- 
comp "hlng this end." 



He admitted he 
had lost the 
entire principal 
of a trust fund. 



Complete perversion of the testator's wishes is very 
often the case when an individual is named as Execu- 
tor or Trustee. Inexperience, incompetence, ignorance 
of the law, and actual dishonesty, are alike disastrous. 



Court order 
obtained an 

accounting. 



The individual seldom has the facilities necessary for the 
strict accounting required by law. The Trust Department 
of the Security Trust and Savings Bank maintains a system 
of accounting which, is exact and in conformance with the 
legal requirements. Our Trust business is under the super- 



vision "of the State Bank Examiner. 



Inability due to 
advanced years 
and impaired 
faculties. 



The individual may die, change his residence, become 

ill or incapable of performing his duties. The service 

of the Security Trust and Savings Bank is perpetual— 

its existence is longer than the years of one man's 

life. The Security is always to be found at its place 

of business — it is never absent through sickness — it 

never takes vacations. When you appoint our Trust Department as your 

executor or trustee, you secure not a one-man management, but the combined 

experience and attention of all the institution's officers and directors. 



Tha unfortunate 
investments were 
made in good faith. 



The individual is usually without experience in the 
handling of estates and the proper investment of 
trust funds. The Security is managed, and under 
the direction of men thoroughly familiar with all 
the duties required of an executor or trustee, and 

its investments are regulated by those who must erf necessity be familiar with 

conditions governing their value. 



Records he kept 
were inadvertently 
destroyed by fire. 



When the Security is named as your executor or 
trustee, it keeps all the papers and documents re- 
lating to the estate in its great Chrome Steel Vaults. 
These vaults are absolutely proof against fire, flood, 
or earthquake. 



We are always glad to answer questions and make suggestions relative 
to matters pertaining to the preparation of your Will, and when named as 
Executor, Trustee or Guardian therein, we prepare your Will. No charge is 
made for this service. 






gjURlT Y trust 

Fifth and Spring Streets 
Los Angeles 



Taking a news item as text 

SHE WOULDN'T TRUST THE BANK 

Mammoth Springs, Ark., Aug. 25. — When Mrs. Kate Williams sold 
her home near Mammoth Springs several days ago she stowed the 
money, $3,000, in a leather satchel and elected to be its guardian. 
Earl} T yesterday a small band of men rode into Mammoth Springs, 
robbed the home of Robert Griffith, at which Mrs. Williams was a guest, 
and made off with the satchel. Leaving Mammoth Springs the men 
covered their tracks with a liberal use of cayenne pepper. 

A fire destroyed the building of the Exchange National Bank, 
of Little Rock, Ark., but it did not destroy the bank, which later pub- 
lished this ad. in a banking journal : 



'Slightly Disfigured, but Still in the Ring! 
'Our banker friends have been good to us. 



Their kindly expressions of 



340 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

sympathy for the loss of our splendid bank home on August 27 have been most 
heartily appreciated. 

"We were fortunate in securing our present location which, under the cir- 
cumstances, is fine. 

"There have been a few unavoidable delays, but — thank you — 

"OUR BUSINESS IS AS USUAL." 

A great deal of the publicity matter sent out by a big bank or 




The Oakland Bank^of Savingi 
and Oakland Industries 



For over half a century this bank has had the best in- 
terests of Oakland in view and by a progressive yet 
conservative policy has aided materially in its indus- 
trial growth. 

Oakland is celebrated for Gas Engines. Then ex- 
cellence has created a market around the world. The 
are in use by practically all departments of the U. S. 
Government and by the governments of Peru. Japan, 
Fiji. England, Samoa, New Zealand. British Colum- 
bia and Australia. 

In gaining this pre-eminence the Atlas Imperial Gas 
Engine Co. has played an important part. Established 
in 1906, it occupies 20,000 square feet of floor space, 
employs 1 50 men and circulates approximately a third 
of a million dollars annually through its pay roll. 



The Oakland Bank of Savings 

Comnkicial—Sm'mit — 7VujI 

Bfoadway and Twelfth Street 

Berkeley Bunch— Shattuck and Center 



Community boosting 



trust company has real news value and the editor can take it or leave 
it in accordance with his own judgment, as he usually does. An "in- 
terview" with a big banker, even if laboriously prepared by some of 
the bright young men of the Publicity Department in accordance 
with the great man's brief suggestions, is usually well worth reading, 
especially when it deals with some subject of great current interest. 

It is better for a bank to depend upon straight advertising, rather 
than to count upon free publicity from newspapers and magazines. 
Although in every bank there is a certain amount of real news from 
time to time which it is perfectly allowable to give to the newspapers 
for publication in their news columns the, press agent is persona non 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 341 

grata in a great many newspaper offices. The desire for free publicity 
is not a failing; of the average banker and in many cases where the edi- 
torial department is supplied with press items from a bank, the ad- 
vertising department is also receiving a great many orders for paid 
advertising. 

COMMUNITY BOOSTING 

Whatever helps the community in which a bank is located naturally 
helps the bank also, and whatever the bank can do to ' ' boost ' ' the city 
will react to its own benefit. Bankers realize this and many of them 
are active in efforts to promote the growth and best interests of their 
communities. 

The Farmers and Merchants Bank of Stockton, Calif., in one of 
its recent advertisements said: 

"Did you know this? 

"San Joaquin County's record as an asparagus producing county. 

"According to the California Development Board's monthly bulletin : 

" 'San Joaquin Delta country has 23,210 acres of land devoted to the produc- 
tion of asparagus. The only other section producing asparagus is the Imperial 
Valley region, where something like 300 acres are available. 

" 'Just another instance of this community's resources. Certainly Stockton 
and its surrounding country are due for great prosperity. 

" 'Now is the time to get behind all movements that mean a bigger and better 
city and country. A good way to be ready to take advantage of the opportunities 
this section will offer to the investor, is to start a savings account so you will 
have the necessary capital. Come in and talk this over with us.' " 

On a two-page spread in the center of the rotogravure section of 
a recent Sunday edition of the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" there were 
photographic cuts of over forty buildings — schools, churches, hospitals, 
office buildings, faetories, etc. — the erection of which has been financed 
by the Mercantile Trust Company of that city in the past few years, 
representing about a third of the industrial and institutional loans 
made by the company in St, Louis. In the center of the spread was 
the advertisement containing these three paragraphs: 

Here are some of the building projects which have been financed through 
the Mercantile Trust Company in the past few years. Large commercial estab- 
lishments and many manufacturing plants, hotels, hospitals and educational in- 
stitutions together with social and religious edifices. 

Even this double page is not large enough to show them all — we have made 
and sold loans on many other St. Louis properties aggregating millions of dollars. 
All sections of St. Louis have shared in this development. 

As a loyal citizen what have you done to help build up St. Louis? Why not 
help indirectly by opening an account with this solid, progressing banking in- 
stitution that has done and is doing so much to promote the growth and pros- 
perity of St. Louis and its citizens? 



342 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

HISTORICAL ADVERTISING 

The argument of age is one of the very strongest that any bank 
can use to prove that it is worthy of the confidence of prospective cus- 
tomers. 

If an institution has lived and prospered for twenty-five, fifty or a 



63 Years of Service to 

BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY 

On Monday, March 31, 1856 
"HPHE PARK BANK" opened for business "at 
the head of Beekman Street, opposite the Park," 
said the newspaper announcement of that time. 

On Monday, March 31, 1919 



£^s 



The National Park Bank will 
have completed 63 years of bank' 
ing service to the com' 
mercial establishments of 
New York City and of the 
United States.! 

Starting out on its 64th 
year, this bank plans, by 
means of a series of adver- 
tisements in this and other 
newspapers, to keep the 
public informed concern' 
ing the constructive poli- 
cies and the business serv- 
ices of this institution — 
which has been privileged 
to cooperate with so many 
successful commercial and 
banking concerns through' 
out the country, with mu- 
tual satisfaction and profit. 



m 



m 



w 

uwm x 



j^vjtj 



i&> 



m 



The 



National ParkJBank 

of New York 



Resources over $350,000,000 



Anniversary advertising 
hundred years, it is reasonable to believe that it is stable and will con- 
tinue to live and prosper indefinitely. 

Any financial institution, therefore, is fortunate when it is in a 
position to call attention to its long and successful service in the com- 
munity. Many banks are doing so by getting out attractive and in- 
teresting booklets, combining in their contents historical matter and 
information about facilities and service. 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 343 

"Ye Story of ye Oldest Bank in America" is the self-explanatory 
title of an interesting little book printed for the Bank of North Amer- 
ica in Philadelphia. It contains some valuable historical data about 
our early struggles to get a good currency and tells how Robert Morris, 
the financier of the Revolution, founded "The Bank of North 



1889 THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY X919 

1UU«/ OF THE 

NATIONAL EXCHANGE BANK 



OF ROANOKE, VA. 




M 



May 7, 1900, $551,835.73 
May 7, 1901, $600,017.48 
May 7, 1902, $709,804.71 

May 7, 1903, $841,171.84 
May 7, 1904, $886,003.08 
May 8, 1905, S 1,1 59,856.74 

May 7, 1906, $1,898,431.69 
May 7, 1907, $2,004,602.95 
May 7, 1908, $2,002,178.89 
y 7, 1909, $1,912,034.68 



May 7, 1910, $2,241,373.13 

May 8, 1911, $2,469,625.38 

May 7, 1912, $2,959,075.18 

May 7, 1913, $3,172,427.97 

May 7, 1914, $3,608,349.83 

May 7, 1915, $4,233,214.59 

May 6, 1916, $4,976,839.09 

May 7, 1917, $6,250,871.27 

May 7,1918, $7,524,605.40 
ay 7, 1919, $8,831,25178 



TheAWFi.u,., CAPITAL^SURPLUS— PROFITS-RESERVE FUNDS OVER 

r^storr 0NE MILLION, TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS 



h 



j 



1889 NATIONAL EXCHANGE BANK OF ROANOKE, VA. 1919 



Graphic depiction of deposit growth 

America," which was chartered by the Continental Congress in 1781. 

Historical booklets when well done are interesting and valuable 
in themselves and have the added merit of being preserved indefinitely 
for reference. 

Some good examples of this kind of publicity have been by Perry 
Walton of Boston, among them the following : 



The Bank of America, New York. Founded 1812. 
Historic Financial Institution and Its Site. 



Brief Account of an 



344 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

Historic Newark : A Collection of the Facts and Traditions about the 
Most Interesting Sites, Streets and Buildings of the City. Printed for the 
Fidelity Trust Co., Newark, N. J. 

One Hundred Years of Savings Bank Service. A Brief Account of the 
Origin, Growth and Present Condition of the Provident Institution for Savings 
in the Town of Boston. 

Safekeeping of Valuables : An Illustrated Account of the Methods that have 
been used during the Ages to keep safely Gold, Silver, Money, Jewels and Valu- 
able Papers, together with the Story of the Origin and Development of the Safe 
Deposit Vault. Printed for the Union National Bank, Newark, N. J. 

Another publication along these lines is ' ' Sixty Years of Finance, ' ' 
issued by the Merchants Loan & Trust Co., Chicago, and the work of 
Chittenden Co. The illustrations are from drawings depicting the 
Chicago of 1857. 

The National Bank of Commerce of Detroit printed with its state- 
ment folder a sketch of the Gr'ffon, the first vessel of commerce which 
arrived at the site of Detroit in 1679, and also a picture of Detroit's 
imposing skyline of the present. 

With a statement the National Bank of the Republic of Chicago 
printed the prophecy of La Salle, who in 1671 on the site of the future 
Chicago predicted: "This will be the gate of the empire, this the 
seat of commerce." 

"A Pioneer Bank" is the name of a booklet issued by the Peoples 
Savings Bank and Trust Company of Moline, 111. It contained inter- 
esting historical data and illustrations. Among the latter were re- 
productions of the bank 's first business card and of the original notice 
of the Comptroller of the Currency giving the bank authority to do 
business. 

"The Bank Historical" is the title of a handsome book issued by 
the Bank of Pittsburgh, National Association. As indicating the style 
of the reading matter the following paragraph will suffice: 

Pittsburgh and the Bank of Pittsburgh have grown up together. The 
bustling, hurrying municipality that is now the industrial centre of the world 
was merely a country village of less than 5,000 inhabitants when the Bank of 
Pittsburgh was organized and all through the years that have passed since then 
the city and the bank have grown together steadily and substantially. 

"Through Fifty Years, the Story of a Bank's Progress," was issued 
by The New York County National Bank in commemoration of its 
semi-centennial anniversary. This book confines itself strictly to the 
history of the institution, not branching out into any general historical 
allusions. 

A booklet of the First National Bank of Boston outlines the history 
of the institution and reproduces an interesting picture of the ' ' Manu- 
factory House" in Long Acre (Tremont) street which for a long time 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 345 




Old print in an historical bank booklet 



was occupied by the Massachusetts Bank, one of the direct antecedents 
of the First National. 

"Old Shipping Days in Boston" is the title of the State Street 
Trust Co. 's latest historical brochure, which is fully up to the standard 
established in the really valuable series the company has published. 
The illustration selected shows the Flying Cloud, which was built by 
Donald McKay in 1851. ' ' She was one of the fastest ships ever built, 
holding the record up to that time of 427 1 /2 miles for a day 's run, and 
making the voyage to California in the then unheard of time of 89 
days. This record exceeded by 42 miles that of the fastest mail steam- 
ship on the Atlantic up to that year. ' ' 

The Merchants National Bank, Providence, R. I., has done that city 
a real service in the publication of an 80-page pamphlet on "Old 
Providence." The pamphlet illustrates and describes many of the 
old historical landmarks of one of the most interesting of New Eng- 
land cities, the occasion being the 100th anniversary of the bank it- 
self. As we have said before in these columns, no bank can do better 
from an advertising standpoint than to collect historical matter of this 
kind and put it in permanent form. The Merchants National Bank 
is one of the most substantial institutions in New England. It has 
made an enviable record in many ways and in all its 100 years of hon- 



346 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

orable life it has never failed to earn and pay a substantial dividend. 

An advertising featnre of nnusual merit is a portfolio of eight ads. 
sent ont by the Northwestern National Bank, Minneapolis, the occa- 
sion being its 50th anniversary. Each ad. is illustrated with some his- 
torical subject relating to the days of 50 years ago in Minneapolis and 
is produced in two colors. The method of producing and presenting 
the series makes it well worth preserving. 

In a recent advertisement, the Union Trust Co. of New York 
emphasized its age thus : 

FOR 53 YEARS 

the Union Trust Co. of ISTew York has served the varying requirements of a con- 
tinually increasing clientele to their complete satisfaction. 

And to-day, past the half-century mark, this company offers its rich ex- 
perience and excellent departmental facilities for the most efficient solution of 
your banking or trust problems. 

The Union & Planters' Bank & Trust Co., Memphis, Tenn., upon 
the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary, got out a large and interest- 
ing book which contained not only a lot of interesting historical mate- 
rial but also described the modern service of the institution. 

The Chemical National Bank of New York in one of its advertise- 
ments explained the origin of its name, as follows: 

This bank derives its name from the old New York Chemical Manufacturing 
Co., which, in 1824, on the strength of its sound business principles, obtained 
a charter to do a general banking business. 

The same conservative policies which at that time attracted a wide clientele 
of the biggest business interests to the Chemical Bank are responsible to-day for 
our reputation as a commercial banking institution of the highest character. 

The Merchants-Laclede National Bank of St. Louis issued an 
attractive brochure giving historical matter regarding early St. Louis. 
It was entitled "Laclede, the Founder of St. Louis." When the 
banking room of the Merchants-Laclede National Bank of St. Louis 
was remodeled, a place of honor was made above the entrance. It was 
decided to put there the bust of Laclede, whose name had been borne 
by the institution nearly half a century. The time was deemed 
fitting to recall the founders' personality and to present a concise 
narrative of the founding, with the reasons why St. Louis may feel 
pride therein. 

In a folder the Commercial National Bank of Chicago reproduced 
the notice of authorization for the bank to commence business, signed 
by Hugh McCulloch, the first Comptroller of the Currency, and also 
its first newspaper advertisement and first published report. The 
old newspaper advertisement is shown herewith. 

Another historical bank publication is a cloth-bound book entitled, 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 347 




J *SSs- 



"Ohvaaite 



Some anniversary and historical copy 



"A Century of the National Bank of the Northern Liberties of Phila- 
delphia. ' ' The book, consisting over fifty pages and thoroughly illus- 
trated by half-tones, is a model for a commemorative work of that kind. 

The first national bank in operation in the United States was the 
First National Bank of Davenport, Iowa. It was given charter No. 15, 
but owing to the enterprise of Austin Corbin and its other founders it 
did not wait till July 1, 1863, when most of the earliest national banks 
opened their doors, but it began business Monday, June 29th, 1863, and 
for two days enjoyed the honor of being the only institution in the 
whole country operating under the National Bank Act. 

It was very fitting, therefore, that in 1913 this bank should have 
celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of its founding. This the bank did 



348 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

by issuing a splendid historical volume of 175 pages. The book was 
illustrated with portraits of the bank's nine president and pictures of 
its old and new homes. 




QOMMERCIAL NATIONAL 
Bank- of Chicago. 

Capital -1200,000 

Privilege la increase to 000,000 

13 CfcABK STBEET. 



jp'u. wbsWau. 



N.O.TmLtAMS, 
W.H.EHftlI3. cj 

Thl* B»nk bee T><>en- organized undwtUe Rational 
Basking Law, and U no w prepared to do a 

General Banking Business. 

etrlct attention wtQ be civet to tile baslncu of 
Coonir* Correspondents, and Accounts with Country 
Bonier, win ^opened on ttettort jjggajj. terms. 

W. U. BHN1S, VleePrest. 
Ch ABixs Esins , Caenler. ' ,__ 

3880 g 9T31 m w¥>net<m «Va rt; 



Early bank advertisement from Chicago Tribune, January 30, 1860 
PARENTS AND CHILDREN 

It does not require a profound knowledge of human nature to 
realize the fact that it is following the line of least resistance to 
appeal to parents on behalf of their children or to try to reach parents 
through their children. 

Successful bank advertisers have long done this and it is an example 
that beginning bank advertisers would do well to emulate. 

The Sacramento Valley Trust Company, Sacramento, Cal., carried 
out the plan explained by this announcement : 



ONE DOLLAR FREE TO EVERY SACRAMENTO BOY AND GIRL, 
APRIL FOURTH 

In order to help the boys and girls in the schools of Sacramento to save 
money, the Sacramento Valley Trust Company will open a savings account for 
every boy and girl who will come to the bank on Tuesday, April 4th, which is 
the first birthday of this bank. 

It is the aim of this institution to encourage saving and our directors know 
there is no better time to begin to save, than when young. 

Call at the bank, April 4th, bring this circular with you, and the bank will 
open a savings account for you with one dollar. This dollar will then be yours, 
you can add to it from time to time just as you wish, and at the end of five 
years }^ou can withdraw not only the dollar itself, but also the four per cent, 
interest it has earned. 

Bring this circular with you, and in exchange you will get the bank book 
with the $1.00 deposit recorded. The $1.00 will bear four per cent, interest, 
whether you deposit more money or not, and can be withdrawn at the end of 
five years. 

This offer is for only one day — Tuesday, April 4th — the first anniversary of 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 349 

the Sacramento Valley Trust Company. We will be open all day. Call any 
time between 8 a. m. to 8 p. m. 

SACRAMENTO VALLEY TRUST CO. 

The same sheet bore a message to the parent, as follows : 

To the parent, whose child brings home this message, we would say: 

As your experience in life has taught you that money is to be recognized 

as the means of life, the means of comfort, the means of maintaining an honest 

independence : 

Is it not well, that you embrace this opportunity to impress upon your 

child's mind the great importance of beginning life right by learning to save. 



'3 



*,/, »*i Lt 



The Federal Title and Trust Company 

BEAVER FALLS. PENNSYLVANIA 



Congratulations to parents 

We are creatures of habit. The saving habit requires some self-denial. Once 
begun, your child travels the path of forethought, prudence, and wisdom. This 
dollar which we offer as our first year's anniversary gift to every child, may 
mean a start for future happiness, the beginning of independence. This offer 
is made to every child in your family, the more there are, the greater the need, 
that the lesson be taught. Let each sign the name on the blank below and call 
at the bank on April 4th, any time between 8 a. m. and 8 p. m. and if we are 
too busy on that day to deliver the pass book, it may be called for the following 
day or later. 

Respectfully, 

SACRAMENTO VALLEY TRUST CO. 

The National Bank of Commerce, Williamson, W. Va., ran an ad- 
vertisement in the local high school paper, the copy reading as follows: 



BOYS AND GIRLS 

What are you going to do when you grow up? 

Are you going to be your own boss or work for someone else? 



350 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 




A Plain Talk to the 
Babies of Utica 

THERE'S ti lot of talk in your household 
about love for you. Love is protective, 
and there is no better way to protect you 
than by giving you a bank account to meet 
unexpected emergencies and to provide you 
with an education. 

Hold father by the finger tonight, while you 
show him this advertisement. Mention it to 
mother when she holds you up tight, before 
you go to sleep. 

Then, after you have convinced them of the 
wisdom of starting you on the road to financial 
independence, come in person with your first 
deposit, or send it by your parents — at once. 

$1.00 will open an account here, which 
should be added to regularly each week, 
no matter how small the deposit. 

Utica Trust 
& Deposit Company 

Genesee, LaFayette and Seneca Streets 



A plain talk to babies 

Will you be independent and have your own home or will you be one of the 
many who just scrape along and manage to make both ends meet? 

It all depends on you. 

Nearly all of the great men of this country began to prepare for success 
when they were young men like you. 

The first step is to save what you earn and are given. The folks at home 
will be glad to help you. 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 351 

Keep tabs on all the new babies arriving in yonr community. It is 
a simple task and one which can be made to produce new business 
for the bank. Have one of the boys go to the birth records once a 
week and secure the list of parents' names and addresses, and watch 
the columns of the local paper for news items of this character. 

Have a neat card engraved bearing the bank's congratulations and 
suggesting that the babe should have a bank account just as soon as its 
name has been determined. 

Enclose with the card, or have printed on its back saving informa- 
tion, interest rates on deposits, etc. 

The Iowa Loan & Trust Company of Des Moines sends a note of 
congratulation to new parents and advises the father that if he will 
put $1 into the bank for the baby the bank will donate $1, making $2 
for the starting of the account. 

The Banking Corporation, Helena, Montana, to advertise its sav- 
ings department and to encourage an early habit of thrift, opens a 
savings account of $1.00 for each baby born in Helena, in any of its 
suburban additions, East Helena and the farming districts tributary. 
The bank' states that a deposit on such an account on each birthday 
of as many dollars as the child is years old, with 4 per cent, com- 
pound interest, will amount to more than $300 at the time the child 
reaches the age of 21. 

Another way to interest parents is being used by the Real Estate 
Bank of Maryville, Mo., which advertised one year that it would put 
25 cents to the credit of each child born in Nowaday County during 
that year. This sum is to draw interest at the rate of four per cent, 
until the child has become a man or woman 21 years old. The birth 
rate of the county is about 225 children each year. 

A separate department for the deposits of boys and girls is a 
feature of the Granite Savings Bank of Monrovia, Cal. Cashier Adams 
said: "Anything that inspires the habit of saving in the younger 
generation appeals to us as worth while." A block of granite under 
the teller's window enables young depositors to reach the wicket with- 
out difficulty. 

Such a department as this teaches children thrift and also familiar- 
izes them with some of the functions of banking. This educational 
work will bear fruit in due time. 

The Rio Grande Valley Bank and Trust Company, El Paso, Tex., is 
following the popular trend — making sure of the parent through the 
good-will of the child by offering first, a ruler free for the asking and 
second, a home savings bank with every deposit of one dollar. 

The advertising man of the Cleveland Trust Company knows 
human nature, especially parental human nature, so that in the picture 



352 MacGREGOB'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

he chose for the cover of a very attractive booklet entitled "Happy 
Children," issued to call attention to that company's facilities for 
handling children 's accounts, he has secured the very best thing in the 
world to touch the parental heart and to get the necessary interest to 
give him an opportunity to tell his story. 

A large part of the booklet is taken up with attractive children's 
pictures printed on fine book paper. There is also a table showing 
what children's savings accounts, on which dollar weekly deposits are 
made, will amount to with four per cent, semi-annual compound inter- 
est, as the children grow up. 

The literary style of the booklet is shown by the following para- 
graphs : 

The little ones ! Every face reflecting purity and love. The fairest sight in 
all the world— the happiness of children; childish innocence imbued with supreme 
faith in the everlasting joys of life. 

And why should they not be happy? We'd all be so if cares, which often 
press heavily upon us, could be forgotteln; if fear and worry would leave us for- 
ever. 

v 

A table with the same idea back of it^ used in the advertising of the 
St. Louis Union Trust Company, is reproduced herewith. 

A good savings bank ad. for juvenile business is that of the Home 
Savings Bank of Brooklyn : 



A LITTLE BOY WITH THIRTY CENTS 

Came into our bank the other day. Taking out two school passbooks, he care- 
fully examined them, counted out fifteen cents for each, placed the money in the 
books and handed them in — just like "grown-up folks." 

This youngster is starting right. He is getting the saving habit. He is 
learning to do his own banking. 

We are not particularly concerned about the thirty cents — we are after the 
boy. We treat such .depositors just like men and women — only "more so." Let 
us show you. 

THE CONTEST IDEA 

Contests of various kinds have proved very efficacious in stimu- 
lating popular interest in banking institutions, and undoubtedly have 
brought business, directly or indirectly, to the banks which have 
conducted them. 

A popular contest creates a great deal of discussion and arouses 
such general interest that the bank gets a lot of valuable free publicity 
from it. Then if an exhibition is held at the bank it brings people 
into the building and provides an opportunity for personal contact 
between the bank officers and the public. When prizes are announced, 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 253 




«*i**HU^**** 






••#••» •##•#•«•!##•< #•»« •#f#f'#| 



• **• f * ' •* *# #» , ** ## 



« ••#•• 



* . »«*#:* 



*••§* 



•»•••»• 



: -- ,'U. ..■:;;■::■ 



SftftjRfJL 



•*lii 



A corn contest conducted by the old Citizens National Bank of Zanesville, Ohio 

there is another opportunity to bring the bank to the favorable atten- 
tion of the public, much of the publicity being secured without cost. 

Following are facts concerning a variety of popular contests which 
banks have conducted with success, not only from the standpoint of the 
bank's own interests, but also from that of the general good of the 
community at large: 

The Cleveland Trust Company, to stimulate habits of thrift in the 
children of Cleveland and vicinity, announced twenty prizes for the 
best essays on the subject "Saving Money," to be written by children 
under fourteen years old attending school in Cleveland and its suburbs. 

First prize, $25.00 ; second prize, $20.00 ; third prize, $15.00 ; fourth 
prize, $10.00 ; sixteen prizes, $5.00 each. 

Essays to contain not more than 350 words; to be written in the 
child's own handwriting and mailed to the Cleveland Trust Company 
within a month. Names, ages and addresses of contributors to be sent 
in with essays, but on separate pieces of paper. 

Six hundred and fifty-three essays competed for the prizes. 



354 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 



GIVE YOUR CHILD A CHANCE 



.Open an account with $3.00 for the day the baby was born, and then on 
each birthday deposit $3.00 for each year of the child's age. in the St. 
Louis Union Trust Company's Savings Department, where we pay THREE 
PER QflNT INTEREST, compounded twice a year. You will be sur- 
priaed to see how th:& interest amounts up. You will also* enjoy seeing the 
v. At the end -of the 21st year you will have in this i 



" Thick what 8S0.34 will do for a young man or a young girl just starting 
tntoahe battle of life. It may mean the difference between success or fail' 
ore, and tbe-tnost this costs yon in any one year is only $63.00. 



53.00 to open account $119.31 8th year 

.09 Interest 27.00 Deposit 

— 2.19 Interest 

$3.09 1st year. 2.22 Interest 



$150.72! 9th year 
30.00 Deposit 
2.70 Interest 
2.74 Interest 

1186:16" 10th year 
33.00 Deposit 
3.28 Interest 
3.33 Interest 

$225.77 11th year 

36.00 Deposit 

3.91 Interest 

3.97 Interest 

$269.65 12th year 
39.00 Deposit 
4.62 Interest 
4.69 Interest 

$317.96 13th year 
42.00 Deposit 
15.38 Interest 
5.47 Interest 

$370.81 14th year 
45.00 Deposit 
622 Interest 
633 Interest 



$9.36 2nd year 

9.00 Deposit 

< ' .54 Interest. 

$18.90 3rd year 

12.00 Deposit 

.90 Interest 

531.80 4th yea? 

ts.mr 

1.38 



$48.18 5th year 
18.00 Deposit 
1.98.r - 



$68.16 6th year 
21.00 Deposit 

1.33 r 
L3S1 



$91.84 7th year 
24.00 Deposit 
1.72 Interest 
1.75 Interest 



$428.36 15th year 
48.00 Deposit 
7.14 Interest 
7.24 Interes( 

$490.74 16th year 

51.00 Deposit 

8.12 Interest 

8.23 Interest" 

$558.09 17th year 
54.00 Deposit 
9.18 Interest 
9.31 Interest' 

$630.58 18th year 
57.00 Deposit 
10.30 Interest 
10.45/ Interest 

$708.33 19th year 
60.00 Deposit 
11.52 Interest 
11.68 Interest 

$791.53 20th year 
63.00 Deposit 
12.81 Interest 
13.00 Interest 



"Give your child a chance" 

The first prize essay, written by Dorthy Rose, thirteen years old, 
was as follows : 

A long time ago — when I was a kindergartener — somebody I like very much 
bought me a little clock. It was a dear little clock that looked like a wee house, 
and it had an opening in the roof through which I could drop my pennies — 
for the little clock was a timepiece, and a house and a savings bank all in one. 

And somebody I like very much wrote a verse about the clock and pasted it 
on the back. Here it is: 

I put my pennies in a clock — 

Although that may seem funny, 
And when I hear the tick-a-tock 

It tells me time is money. 



The little clock still sings its song of savings, for it is a stout little clock 
and hasn't minded in the least the many shakings I have given it. I don't 
often overfeed it, although on several occasions it has choked up and been 
taken to a downtown bank to be relieved — always coming home as cheerful and 
hungry as ever. 

I think I owe my little clock something more than winding and dusting. It 
has taught me the pleasure of saving — for it surely is a pleasure when you meas- 
ure it by results. My savings have been small, smaller than they should have 
been, no doubt, but there is a modest balance in a downtown bank that waits 
my call — and grows as it waits. 

I haven't thought much on this subject of "Saving Money," but there are 
two or three ideas that impress me. 

In the first place, I never missed the pennies and nickels and dimes I saved, 
and my little balance in the savings bank brings a pleasant feeling when I re- 
member it is there and always growing — through interest and additions. 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 355 

The possession of this balance gives me a comfortable sense of ownership 
and a feeling - of mastery — for my money is working for me, day and night, hour 
after hour, steadily, uncomplainingly — like the little clock on my table upstairs. 

The Wachovia Bank and Trust Company of Winston-Salem, N. C, 
announced a tobacco-growing contest as follows: 

For the purpose of stimulating the farmers of this tobacco belt to better and 
more profitable tobacco-growing, the Wachovia Bank and Trust Company offers 
the following prizes: 

First — For the largest number of pounds of flue-cured tobacco grown on 
one acre of land, three prizes; First, $50.00; second, $30.00; third, $20.00. 

Second — For the largest number of dollars realized from the flue-cured 
tobacco grown on one acre of ground, three prices. First, $50.00; second, $30.00; 
third, $20.00. 

Third — For the largest number of pounds of air-cured tobacco grown on one 
acre of ground, $25.00. 

Fourth — For the highest average price for all the air-cured tobacco grown 
on one acre of ground, $25.00. 

Referring to this tobacco contest a bank officer said: 

This was the best publicity we have had. It did more to attract attention 
among the thousands of farmers who sell tobacco on this market than anything 
we have attempted and it stirred up our own town people. The result must be 
beneficial to the bank and to the town for it brought town and country nearer 
together. 

The local newspaper account read : 

Who would have thought that there was a single acre of land in this sec- 
tion that could produce two thousand pounds of tobacco in the dryest year this 
section has experienced in thirty years? Yet this has been done — not only by 
one man, but by others. And who would have thought that any one acre of 
land in this section could produce as much as three hundred dollars' worth of 
tobacco under such weather conditions as we had this year? Yet this feat was 
accomplished, as proven by the sale last Wednesday. 

There were eight prizes offered by the banking house, open to the farmers 
of Forsyth, Surry, Stokes, Yadkin, Alexander, Caldwell, Davie, Davidson, Guil- 
ford, Iredell, Rockingham and Wilkes counties in this State and Patrick and 
Carroll counties, Virginia. About two hundred and fifty growers originally en- 
tered, but the seasons were so unfavorable during the summer months that all 
but forty-two became discouraged and dropped out of the contest. 

The sale was held Wednesday, beginning at nine o'clock. Each warehouse 
here had some of this tobacco and the best buyers from each firm attended the 
sales. Much interest was manifested by the public in this sale, there being so 
many people about the tobacco that the buyers had difficulty in getting to it. 

The yield from forty-two acres in question aggregated 56,634 pounds, which 
shows that on an average 1348y 2 pounds were produced to the acre. The 56,634 
pounds sold for $6,617.85, an average of $11.66 per hundred. This is something 
over two dollars higher than the general market average at this time. Each 
acre produced on an average $157.57 worth of leaf. 

A Chicago bank's savings department carried on a New Account 



356 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

contest, offering to employes of the bank a prize of $75 for the largest 
number of points and $50 for the second highest on this basis : 

For securing accounts of $5,000 and up 250 points 

For securing accounts of $2,500 to $5,000 150 points 

For securing accounts of $1,000 to $2,500 120 points 

For securing accounts of $500 to $1,000 90 points 

For securing accounts of $250 to $500 75 points 

For securing accounts of $100 to $250 60 points 

For securing accounts of $25 to $100 45 points 

For securing accounts of $5 to $25 30 points 

For securing accounts of $1 to $5 6 points 

Daily bulletins were posted showing the progress of the contest and 
the standing of the contestants. 

During the last week it is said that accounts came in at the rate of 
175 a day, sixty employes being engaged in the contest. 

The Old Citizens National Bank", Zanesville, O., wrote concerning 
his institution 's Corn Contest as follows : 

While we are endeavoring to make these exhibits greatly for the benefit of 
the corn grower, at the same time we are not forgetful about the results we have 
had in the way of advertising. 

In our seventh annual "Corn Contest," there was on exhibit about 400 ears, 
which is a very large increase over any other exhibit we have held. The farmers 
in our vicinity are showing a great interest in the matter, and have improved 
their seed corn very much by securing from these exhibits, a sample of corn. 

After former exhibits were over, we turned the corn over to the Salvation 
Army, ground, allowing them to give a "mush and milk social," and we furnished 
them tickets for the social, on which our advertising was placed. The tickets 
found ready sale at ten cents each. 

This year we are giving the corn to the Women's Benevolent Society, a 
charitable organization, and the ladies expect to sell it at auction at the Poultry 
Fanciers' Show. Of course all this means some advertising which our newspapers 
are glad to give without any expense to us. 

The score card was as follows: 

Standard Score 

1. Adaptability 25 

2. Seed condition 15 

3. Shape of Kernel 15 

4. Uniformity and trueness to type 15 

5. Weight of ear 10 

6. Length and Proportion 10 

7. Color of grain and cob 5 

8. Butts and tips 5 

Total 100 

A Government publication gives the following information about 
a bank pig club and the results attained : 

The following figures, showing results by a boys' and girls' pig club in 
Marshall, Mo., are given as an indication of what a bank can accomplish in its 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 357 

community through intelligent stimulation of pig raising by young people. 
The club was organized last May with 83 members, the bank buying pigs for 
each member and taking their notes. Each boy and girl agreed to look after 
his or her pig, keep a careful record of feed and cost of same, and weight and 
increase of the animal. The pigs were to be sold in the fall, notes paid off, and 
members given their profit. Prizes were offered in addition to pro lit based on 
the following scheme of percentages for judging: 

Points 

1. The best pig for market purposes 30 

2. The best daily gain 20 

3. Net profit 30 

4. The best record and story of methods 20 

When delivered to members in May the pigs weighed on an average 89.4 
pounds, and cost $13.91 on a basis of pork at $15.50. When sold, September 22, 
they averaged 250.5 pounds and brought $18.90 per 100 at auction, making the 
average sale price $47.35 each. 

BUILDING AND LOCATION 

The advertising value of* a bank's new building is very great. It 
has been the experience of many a bank that upon getting into a new 
and attractive building its deposits are at once greatly stimulated. 
Nothing succeeds like success and a fine up-to-date building creates the 
impression of a fine up-to-date bank. 

A banker, in commenting on his bank 's new building, said : " I con- 
sider this new building our best advertisement for years to come. Its 
value in that respect cannot be estimated in dollars." 

When a new building with many unusual features was opened by 
the Mercantile National Bank and the Mercantile Trust Company of 
St. Louis, a special advertising campaign was entered into to obtain 
publicity for the new building and the service institutions offered. 
Of the results obtained, an officer said : 

The basis purpose of this advertising was to impress upon the minds of 
St. Louisans a fuller appreciation of "Mercantile Service," as exemplified by our 
ten highly specialized departments and to win new accounts by portraying the 
superior service obtainable as a direct result of larger quarters, improved system, 
modernized equipment and increased facilities. 

The results were far in excess of our most sanguine hopes. 

By actual tally register count over 47,000 persons visited our building dur- 
ing the five and a half business days that constituted opening week. 

Xew accounts fairly rolled in the first day and the second day, more on the 
third, still more on the fourth, while the fifth day's volume of new business 
broke all St. Louis precedents. 

Various advertising media were used, including newspapers, billboards, dis- 
play hangers, mailing folders, letters, picture slides and a film in some forty 
theatres. 

The results more than justified our hard work and most conclusively proved 
that a well-planned opening week be made a very profitable as well as popular 
event. 

An unusual idea is that of the Peoples Savings Bank of Cedar 



358 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

Rapids, Iowa, which in opening its new building published a booklet 
giving due credit to those who made the building — the architect, the 
artist, and the various firms who had anything to do with it. 
On a folder the West End Trust Company of Philadelphia said : 



A Tower 
Strength 

If 




THE STRENGTH OF 
THE BANKERS TRUST 
COMPANY is founded upon 
the bedrock of character, ex- 
perience and great financial 
resources. 

For this reason, thcCoropany has come 
to be regarded as a tower of strength 
in the financial community. Many 
important business concerns are look- 
ing to it for the service aod co-opera- 
tion obtainable only from an institution 
of unquestioned dependability, com- 
plete equipment and far-reaching 
banking connections. 

The constructive service of the Bank- 
ers Trust Company is being used by a 
steadily increasing number of leading 
business enterprises of the United 
States— corporations, firms and indi- 
viduals demanding of their bank the 
strength and ability to keep pace with 
their requirements, no matter how ex- 



Bankers Trust 
Company 

>»»>i™» Member *"&&* 

'tSiS.' Federal Reserve System 1%S?SS. 

Resources Over Four Hundred Million Dollars 



The building as a trade mark. This advertisement was written by the author, and 
the headline has since been adopted as a regular slogan of the Company 

Special attention is called to the fact that the company owns its handsome 
new building and the ground upon which it is erected, free and clear of all in- 
cumbrances. 



Fixing location in the mind of the public is done sometimes by 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 359 

means of a slogan or b,y the nse of a map. If you can devise a 
mnemonic system that will automatically impress upon everybody's 
mind just where you are located, it will be a valuable advertising 
achievement. 

It is quite the custom nowadays when a bank moves into a new 
home to invite the public to make a thorough inspection of the new 
quarters. Such inspection extends to the machinery and equipment 
of the bank. The two things behind the scenes of a bank which seem 
to interest the average layman most are the adding machines and the 
vault. The manufacturer of the most extensively used adding and 
bookkeeping machine furnishes banks with suitable advertisements to 
use in featuring that aid to efficiency. It is true that without adding 
machines banks toda}^ would be virtually helpless, and it does no 
harm to let the public know something of the wonderful device which 
makes it possible to give prompt and accurate service in the handling 
of accounts. 

The location of a bank in its city or in relation to the broader terri- 
tory in its state or section of the country can be given significance from 
an advertising standpoint. 

For example, the Old National Bank of Spokane, Wash., has 
started an advertising campaign to educate bankers of other parts of 
the country concerning ' ' The Inland Empire. ' ' 

The map and advertisement reproduced herewith are part of this 
campaign, which is described by Assistant Cashier W. J. Kommers as 
follows : 

Banking items for Spokane and the Inland Empire are continually reach- 
ing us in a circuitous manner that indicates ignorance of Spokane's geographical 
location. The commonest mistake confuses Spokane with the Puget Sound cities, 
but we often have routings that show that eastern bank cashiers have this city 
pictured as being somewhere in the general region of Denver or Salt Lake City. 

After this, whenever such a mistake is made, the offending banker will be 
sent a copy of our circular, with its strikingly colored map, which can hardly 
fail to teach a lesson. On the circular above the map we have printed the dis- 
tances from Spokane to other important western cities, showing conclusively 
that the city is the capital of a unified region which, as we point out, has an 
area three times that of Alabama. 

Spokane is now the greatest railroad centre west of the Missouri River, 
being entered by the five transcontinental lines and many other railroads. 

Spokane is the capital of a commercial empire, containing one hundred and 
fifty thousand square miles, parts of four great States and British Columbia. 
The boundaries of this region are clearly defined and unify it as a distant ter- 
ritory. The Rocky Mountains lie on the l^ast and the Cascade Range on the 
West, having between them an area rich i/h the resources of mine, farm and 
orchard, timber land and water power. 

Spokane, with more than 100,000 population, is the financial and commer- 
cial centre of this district, abounding in cities and towns. 



360 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 



Iii the Center of the Loop 



rn D 



JH 




D 

pa 

J 



jfa I -i± 

I JACKSON 

EOPDQ 



Conveniently reached 

— From any part of Chicago 
-From all "L" roads 
—From all surface lines 
—From all R. R. depots. 
— From shopping district 

SAVINGS ACCOUNTS may be 
started any business day. 

FIRST TRUST and 
SAVINGS BANK 

Ground Floor First National Bank Bldg. 
N. W. Cor. Dearborn and Monroe Sts. 




^^T^% The Old National 

<r Ka Nf d l ret 1 ' 
A BB ,iL,0 L u M Ji s fv\ Hani? of Spokane 

A\\ . J f?p \y JL \ Cdl " W *l -000.000 


/ / 7 >& \ i i-U i\ <\ OFFICERS 
PN { ^""SsjjfJ ]L^-?Cl\ Nj_ ^ T DIRECTORS . 

\^TT W \\C number of concjpondenh, uoequilcd by Any bank in lile 



2>«Vaj. note <V «J»r»« JkV 
o/ your offal to our luiTdr 



1iTi£GIIAlUint£«TRDSr» 

Vi BROADWAY 
N«« York C.rr 




Featuring location 

This bank also makes good use of space on a postcard by the map 
and copy shown. 

PAY ENVELOPE ADVERTISING 

Pay envelope advertising is an old and tried method for savings 
banks, but there are different ways to do it, some more effective than 
others. 

The Naugatuck (Conn.) Savings Bank provides a number of indus- 
trial concerns in its community with pay envelopes on which there is 
printed matter calculated to induce the workmen to deposit a portion 
of their wages regularly in the bank. The copy used on one of these 
envelopes is as follows : 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 361 



Did you ever buy anything on the installment plan ? The collector comes 
around each week and you must pay up or you lose the goods. At the end 
of two years you look back and surprise yourself at what you have paid. 

An installment of a dollar a week in the Naugatuck Savings Bank will 
also surprise you. In five years, with four per cent, interest, you will have 
$300; in ten years $650. 

One dollar will open an account. Bank open every Wednesday evening 
(except legal holidays) from 7 to 8.30. 



One of the best ideas is that shown in the reproduction herewith in 




— Save Time in Routing Your Items-— 

The circuitous manner in which items on Spokane and 
the " Inland Empire " (within the circle on the above map), 
reach this bank daily suggests very strongly that a needless 
loss of time might be obviated if the natural geographical 
location of Spokane and its advantages as a railroad and dis- 
tributive center in the vast and productive empire immedi- 
ately tributary to it were better understood. 

If your institution ever has any collection items 

i=0n the "INLAND EMPIRE" =; 

study the map printed herewith and atk ui to tend you our circular showing 
how much of the time now being wasied by the Indiscriminate routing of 
items on Spokane and contiguous territory could be saved. 

The Old National Bank now has direct connection with practically every 
point in Eastern Washington. Northern Idaho. Northeastern Oregon. West- 
era Montana and British Columbia. The attention of Banks, Bankers and 
Trust Companies of the East and Middle West la particularly called to thla 
fact 

A demonstration of our efficient service will be gladly given. 

I — THE OLD NATIONAL BANK — 

OF SPOKANE. WASH. 

Capital One Million Dollars 
Featuring location in a banking journal adcertisement 

which the name of the recipient of the pay envelope appears as part of 
the advertisement. 

The First National Bank of West Elizabeth, Pa., furnishes pay en- 
velopes to local factories. The copy on one of them reads : 

I WILL SAVE 

a portion of my wa.ges or salary, and I will deposit this amount in my savings 
account each pay day. By doing this my money will be working for me, and 
by this accumulating of money now, while I am strong and can work, my 
future outlook will be greatly bettered. 

Four per cent, interest paid on savings at this bank. 



The Chicopee Falls (Mass.) Savings Bank, "We are using pay 
envelopes for our advertising, in fact it is about the only way we are 
advertising. I think they are bringing good results. ' ' Following are 
samples of the pay envelope copy : 



362 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

A PROMINENT MANUFACTURER RECENTLY SAID: 

"The best men working in our shops today are the men who are saving 
money regularly. The steadiness of purpose and ambition thus displayed is 
apparent in their work. They are the men to whom advancements and pro- 
motions most frequently come and they are the last to be laid off when times 
are dull." 

CHICOPEE FALLS SAVINGS BANK. 

The Title Guarantee and Trust Company of New York, to advertise 
its four and one-half per cent, guaranteed first mortgage certificates, 
secured the privilege of furnishing pay envelopes to some of the large 
industrial concerns of the city. Of course, the outside of the enve- 
lope bore a thrift talk and advertising matter of the bank. In some 
cases, permission was given to enclose a postcard to be filled out and 
mailed for further information. Most concerns are glad to have a 
good institution urge their employes to save, as they believe that a 
thrifty worker is better than an improvident one. 



CONTINUITY AND DIFFERENTIATION 

A series is usually more impressive than a single advertisement 
and it conveys an idea of greater importance to the advertising 
message it carries. 

When the advertisements are numbered, the reader of No. 3, for 
instance, may be so much interested that he will look for No. 4 'and 
might even go to the trouble of looking up Nos. 1 and 2. 

While serial bank advertisements probably can never be made as 
interesting as a serial story in a monthly magazine, at least they 
have this advantage — that the reader does not have to wait a whole 
month to have his curiosity satisfied, once it is aroused, because there 
is only a day or two between the successive insertions in the news- 
paper. 

There is a wide range of subjects which might be advertised in this 
way: 

Local Industries 
Using your Bank. 
Banking Hints 
Things that help Credit, etc. 

A trust company or a national bank with a trust department could publish 
a series on one or all of these topics: 
Making Your Will 
. The Choice of an Executor 
Voluntary Trusts 
The Safe-keeping of Securities, etc. 

Perhaps a word of caution is necessary regarding the length of the 
series. Don't make it too long, as interest might not be sustained. 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 363 

Remember that differentiation is just as important in bank advertising 
as continuity. 

One way to get the benefits of both continuity and differentiation in 
your advertising in the newspapers is to vary the sizes and shapes of 
3 T our advertisements while sticking to the same style of set-up and 
always using the same emblem and signature cut. 

courtesy 

Courtesy is certainly a bank advertising asset. This is the way 
the First National Bank of Volusia, Fla., expresses the idea in a 
newspaper ad. 

Courtesy is one of the factors that has made the First National Bank the 
strong institution it is today. 

When a visitor enters our bank doors we endeavor to make him or her 
feel that the visit is worth while. Courtesy has made many new friends and 
depositors for the First National Bank. Courtesy has made those who have done 
their hanking business with us in the past an asset of good will which is in- 
valuable to any institution. 

Whether your account be a large one, or is a little one with a desire to 
grow — you will always find the officers of the First National Bank courteous. 

Our customers do not hesitate to bring their financial problems to us — ■ 
they know we will give them our personal attention and advise them from a 
knowledge gained from experience. Our officers are always ready to talk over 
your problems. 

It means something to have a connection with a bank that seems to take 
on interest in your success — that's what we try to do here. If you haven't already 
made a connection with us, we invite your account. 

CULTIVATING PRESENT DEPOSITORS 

A large New York City trust company reports many new accounts 
secured after persistent efforts of its New Business Department. One 
good account was secured after 21 follow-ups. The Irving National 
Bank of New York now has on its books a commercial account with an 
average balance of $10,000, which it took seven years of follow-up 
efforts to land, consisting of letters, bank statements, and personal calls 
of representatives. 

At one time the Irving National used on the cover of one of its 
statement folders a picture of the Bush Terminal docks in Brooklyn, 
an interesting illustration. A certain manufacturer of automatic 
sprinklers saw it and came to the bank's New Business Depart- 
ment to borrow the cut for use in some of his own advertising. He 
was not then a depositor at the Irving, but having got in touch with the 
department in this friendly way, he soon became one and recently his 
average balance there was around $25,000. 

It is just as necessary to bring to life semi-dormant present deposit- 
ors as it is to go out into the highways and byways and compel new 



364 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 




Human interest copy 

ones to come into the fold. The only difference is that persons already 
interested in an institution naturally are more quickly attracted by an 
advertisement of it than an outsider would be, and, having noticed it, 
the chances are greater that favorable action will be taken in regard 
to the suggestion made because they know by past experience that the 
bank can be depended upon to perform what it promises. 

The backbone of the plan to cultivate and develop those already 
depositors can be a central card file index of names and data which 
consists of a good-sized card for each depositor containing full data 
concerning him and his various relations with the bank. These cards, 
arranged alphabetically and cross-referenced, are kept right up to date. 
Consulted regularly, they afford dependable information upon which 
to base advertising efforts. 

For instance, when it is noticed that a depositor in the banking de- 
partment or a client of the trust department is not using the other 
departments of the institution which he might use, the guns of the 
New Business Department quickly get his range, and he is shelled with 
advertising literature and form letters. After this artillery prepara- 
tion, a storming party of shock troops consisting of personal repre- 
sentatives of the Publicity and New Business Department, is prepared 
to take the remaining trenches and "consolidate the gains," to borrow 
an expression from the battlefront. 



THE HOLIDAYS 



The value of a bank 's having special holiday advertisements lies in 
the fact that at that season everybody is thinking of Christmas and 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 365 




Holiday copy 

New Year's. The holiday spirit is in the air and it is, therefore, a 
comparatively easy task to get and hold the reader's attention by 
means of snch advertising. 

Banks quite generally make an appeal along the line of starting a 
savings bank account as a Christmas gift for son or daughter. 

Another good idea is to call attention to the fact that Christmas is 
likely to be a time of greater cheer if the family has money in the bank. 

The first of the year is a time for the making of good resolutions. 
It is also a period when interest and dividends are paid. Moreover, 
many persons take account of stock, actually and figuratively, at that 
time. So it is very opportune for the banker to make a special appeal 
for depositors then. How some bankers have done it is shown by the 
advertisements from newspapers, folders, etc., reproduced on the fol- 
lowing pages. 

From among a number of holly and mistletoe-bedecked greetings 
the wording of a few is selected as follows : 

The Officers and Directors of the Superior Savings and Trust Co., Cleve- 
land, desire to extend to you their sincere thanks for the degree to which you 
have contributed towards the growth of the bank during the past year. 

The hope is earnestly entertained that the good cheer of the season may 
come to you in full measure, and that the new year will be one of greater hap- 
.piness and broader accomplishment than you have heretofore experienced. 



The Bank of Commerce, Cleveland, uses a beautifully illuminated 
quotation from Dickens, as follows : 



366 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

"It was always said of him that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if 
any man alive possessed the knowledge. 

"May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim ob- 
served, 'God Bless Us Everyone.' " 

On the outside cover were these words: 

The Officers and Directors of the Bank of Commerce, National Association, 
Cleveland, wish you a Merry Christmas and a very prosperous and Happy 
New Year. 



BANK HOUSE ORGANS 

The little bank paper or "house organ," issued either by the bank 
itself or prepared and printed by a syndicate publishing house for the 
use of many banks, with adaptations for local use, is a popular and 
valuable form of bank advertising. 

As illustrating the general purpose of such publications, the saluta- 
tion in the first number of the "Nebraska State Bank Journal," pub- 
lished by the Nebraska State Bank, Ord., Neb., is thus stated : 

The object of the publication of the Journal is primarily to benefit the 
Nebraska State Bank. In publishing it, however, it will be the aim of the man- 
agement of the bank not only to acquaint the public with the advantages to 
be gained by doing business with this bank, but also to set forth the advantages 
offered by this portion of Nebraska for profitable investment. We hope the 
Journal may be of benefit to this locality as well as to the bank. There is no 
charge for the Journal. If you desire to receive it, kindly favor us with your 
address, or give us the address of any one to whom you would like to have it 
sent. We will take pleasure in placing the names on our mailing list. 



FLOATS IN PARADES 

The Bank of Helena, Helena, Ark., had a float in the industrial 
parade of the local Mardi Gras, consisting of a lifeboat manned by 
two lifesavers guarding a large representation of a home savings bank. 
On the side of the boat was painted: "Helena Saving Station, The 
Bank of Helena. ' ' Afterwards a photograph of the float was used on 
a postcard. 

An unusually attractive float was used in a parade by The Whittier 
(Cal.) National Bank. It was an automobile and thousands of smilax 
and yellow chrysanthemums went into the trimmings. A big pass- 
book showing a good credit balance was the sole occupant of the ton- 
neau of the machine. 

An officer of a trust company in a small Pennsylvania city wrote : 

We want to ask for some suggestions along the line of a float in a civic day 
parade to be held in this town during the latter part of August. 

We want to place a float in the parade to "help along" and at the same 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 367 

time we want it to be of some advertising value to the company. We can spend 
about $50 on it. 

A float was suggested, showing the difference, now and later on, 
between the Spendthrift and the Saver, or a spectacular representation 
of the financial strength of the company by means of bags of "gold" 
and display figures of capital, surplus, etc. 

ACCESSIBILITY OF OFFICERS 

Not a few banks have come to realize that there is business-getting 
value in making it easy for customers to see the officers when they have 
any business with them. Having the officers' quarters near the 
entrance saves time of the tellers in directing strangers, and saves 
considerable time for the officers also. Under this plan interviews are 
held over the marble fence with both interviewer and interviewed 
standing. An invitation to enter must rest entirely with the official, 
who can terminate or continue to interview at will. Customers who 
make daily trips to the bank are under constant eyes of the officers, 
who are enabled to give their entrance and exit a personal touch 
through a word of greeting that is not from behind a glass door or 
through the cold exclusiveness of brass railing. In rush hours, also, 
a busy teller must necessarily keep his mind concentrated to make 
accurate settlement, and he has little time for exchange of social 
pleasantries. 

LOBBY PLACARDS 

A San Francisco bank uses placards in frames at the tellers' win- 
dows, changing copy weekly. A sample of the copy follows : 

TRUST COMPANY SERVICE 

This is the title of a Booklet explaining in detail what the Savings Union 
Bank and Trust Company can do for you and your property. 

In it we have collected the questions which are daily asked by our patrons 
as to the services a trust company is prepared to render and have endeavored 
to answer them as clearly as possible. 

"Trust Company Service" contains much useful information about wills, 
estates and trusts and we think will prove interesting to all of our friends. 

THE TELLER WILL HAND YOU A COPY UPON REQUEST. 

The National Union Bank of Maryland, Baltimore, has a frame 
on the wall of its lobby in which a proof of the current newspaper 
advertisement is always to be found. 

OUTDOOR NAMEPLATE 

A bank 's sign on the outside of its place of business ought to reflect 
the prosperity and substantial character of the institution itself. Bet- 



368 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

ter no sign than a poor sign, for a shabby sign will advertise you in 
the wrong way. It might just as well be a bulletin of careless, un- 
stable methods inside, for it gives that impression, and impressions 
attract or repel new depositors. 

A TIME BOOK 

In order to aid present and prospective depositors in saving money, 
the Union Savings Bank of Pittsburgh distributed free an edition of 
the "Workingman's Time Book." The book is of convenient pocket 
size and is useful for keeping a record of time, wages and expenses, 
besides containing much valuable information — first help to the in- 
jured, building tables, business law, postage rates, etc. Some banks 
give away farmers' record books. 

REPRODUCING NEWSPAPER ADS 

A Pennsylvania bank reproduced in folder form seven newspaper 
advertisements of the institution, with this introduction : 

These are selected from advertisements appearing at present in the Lancas- 
ter "Morning News" and "New Era" and changed every other day. They are pub- 
lished as a reminder of the modern banking facilities offered you here. As one 
interested in good financial service, we feel you can follow them with profit. 
Read them. 

A COOK BOOK 

A rather unusual, but none the less valuable, piece of advertising 
literature is issued by the Barnett National Bank, Jacksonville, Fla. 
It is a cook book entitled: '''What to Cook and How to Cook It." 
While the good housewife pages over the book to find seasonable recipes 
she finds between the paragraph on "Poor Man's Layer Cake" and 
"Eggless Cake" the admonition: "In seasons of prosperity prepare 
for seasons of want. ' ? The cover is almost wholly given up to adver- 
tising matter of the bank, and there are several full pages of advertis- 
ing interspersed. The last word in practical psychology is the ' ' Price, 
25 Cents" on the cover, which will make the recipient prize the book 
even if she does get it for nothing. 

SPECIALIZED SERVICE 

"Class" banking is coming into its own in these days of specializa- 
tion. Years ago the names "Farmers National," "Tanners Bank" 
and the like had an attractive sound, but were more or less devoid of 
any special significance. Now, however, without necessarily embody- 
ing it in their titles many banks are specializing in service to distinct 
trades and industries. This is particularly effective in the larger 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 369 







A clever folder cut-out of the Live Stock State Bank, North Portland, Oregon. 

Opened, the folder contains statement and remarks about the 

bank's "First Birthday" 

cities that have their ' ' leather districts, " * ' wool districts, " ' ' shipping 
districts" and the like. The banks have not only studied the peculiar 
needs of their respective "districts," but they have featured their 
specialization in their advertising. And, strange as it may seem, this 
specialization does not in the least keep other and more general busi- 
ness away from these banks. On the contrary, their identification 
with one of the fundamental industries of the community seems to 
lend them added strength and prominence, and to attract other busi- 
ness to them. 

INTRODUCTION CARD 

The National Bank of Smithtown Branch, N. Y., gives out an 
introduction card worded like this : 



DEAR SIRS: 



THIS WILL INTRODUCE TO YOU 



M 



WHOSE SIGNATURE APPEARS BELOW, WHO DESIRES TO OPEN 
A CHECKING ACCOUNT. 
AN INTEREST ACCOUNT. 

YOURS VERY TRULY 



Signature of party introduced 

Address 



Date. 



TACTFUL EMPLOYES 



"When in a bank 's advertising special emphasis is being placed upon 
any one facility, those persons on the force who have the care of the 
department or line of business should be carefully informed with re- 



370 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

gard to all the details. The fact is that business can be procured at 
the windows by polite, careful attention and prospective patrons may 
be turned away as a result of thoughtlessness or lack of tact. 

NEWSPAPER FREE TO NEWCOMERS 

The Citizens National Bank of Storm Lake, Iowa, had an arrange- 
ment with a local newspaper whereby a copy of the paper was sent to 
new people coming to the community, with the compliments of the 
bank, for a period of three months, or until such time as they were 
permanently settled. The bank found that this produced very satis- 
factory results, although it required considerable attention to keep an 
up-to-date list of newcomers. 

ENVELOPE ENCLOSURES 

The Fourth National Bank of Fayetteville, N. C., uses some very 
neat envelope enclosures in the form of slips containing savings argu- 
ments. The one which has brought the most business reads : 

The richest per capita nation is France. She isn't the greatest producing 
nation, but her wealth is entirely due to SAVING. 

Just suppose at the age of 23 you begin and deposit $3 per week in our Sav- 
ings Department, at 33 you will have $1,904.44; at 43 you will have $4,759.30; at 
53 you will have $8,976.48; at 63 you will have $15,123.52, and be INDE- 
PENDENT. 

NOW IS THE TIME TO STAET. 

JEWISH PRAYER BOOK 

The State Bank of New York City gives out to its depositors, the 
majority of whom are Jewish people, a book of prayers for the Jewish 
holidays, such as the Passover. These little prayer books are bound 
in plain, though attractive, style and enclosed in neat boxes printed on 
the outside with the name of the bank. It was found that this was a 
good will producer. 

SELF-ADDRESSED ENVELOPES 

The Bank of Oregon City, Ore., gives out self-addressed envelopes 
with this matter printed on them : 

The way to have a bank account is to start one. You will find it easy enough 
to keep it growing after you once begin. Place a dollar bill in this envelope, seal 
it, write your name and address on the back, put a stamp on the front and drop 
it into the nearest mail box. We will place the dollar to your credit, open an 
account for you, and send you a passbook. Consult our . officers freely about 
safe and profitable investment for your money as it accumulates. 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 371 



BANK DRAFT LEAFLET 



The First National Bank of St. Cloud, Minn., prints a leaflet show- 
ing by actual figures how much cheaper it is to forward money, both in 
the United States and to foreign countries, through the bank than 
through the post office or express companies. 



STATEMENT FOLDERS 

A good advertising man can save a big bank the equivalent of his 
salary in such ways as this, described by the Publicity Department of 
the Union Trust & Savings Bank of Spokane, Wash. : 

Our solution of the problem of quickly issuing attractive statements at each 
call of the Comptroller is illustrated by our latest statement, together with the 
ones prepared for use during the ensuing year. 

We prepared copy of a general nature, outlining our functions, etc., which we 
had set up to make an eight-page booklet, one page, however, being left entirely 
blank, with the exception of a uniform border, in order to permit printing the 
statement at a later time. ^Ye next had these run on five different tints of 
paper, being careful to select stock which would harmonize with the one color 
scheme adopted. 

The result is that for the price of one large run we were able to get out five 
different statement folders, thus cutting out the expense of five separate runs and 
color schemes. Now, whenever the Comptroller's call is received, we have the 
printer set up our statement, print it in on the blank page, and trim and bind the 
booklets, thus having a new booklet each time, at little greater cost and in just 
as short a space of time as is possible when having but a single page printed. 

GIVING ADVICE 

A good many bankers hesitate to advertise that they are willing to 
give their depositors business advice. The objection to this plan, they 
say, is that if advice is given and followed with unfortunate conse- 
quences, having advertised to give business counsel will prove to be a 
boomerang against the bank. There is a good deal of truth in this 
contention. Undoubtedly it is better to offer merely "to confer over 
your business problems" and to place "business information" at the 
disposal of customers. However, there seems to be no valid objection 
to a bank 's offer to give investment advice to persons inexperienced in 
such matters, because that is one of the main functions of the modern 
service-o'ivinp: financial institution. 



THE BANK SOLICITOR 

The bank drummer is a collateral development of bank advertising. 
Concerning him a writer in the "Saturday Evening Post" said : 

The bank drummer, in all his phases, is a development of a relentless com- 



372 MacOREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

mercialism that is gradually levelling the barrier separating the professions from 
"trade." The banker of half a century ago would no sooner think of solicit- 
ing deposits than he would think of advertising, and yet both the solicitor and 
the advertisement now are generally recognized as essential factors in the suc- 
cess of the modern bank, at least if it be located in any of the centres of popu- 
lation. Like the physician and the lawyer, the banker of former days was con- 
tent to sit in his office and with patience and dignity await the pleasure of the 
outside world; but the few who have steadfastly clung to the traditions of that 
generation have beheld their institutions languish in the clutch of that most 
insidious of commercial diseases, "dry rot." 

AN 8-PAGE ADVERTISEMENT 

The Salem, Mass., Five Cents Savings Bank some time ago pub- 
lished an 8-page advertisement in the Salem ' l Evening News, ' ' giving 
a complete list of depositors ' accounts by number, and also a statement 
of the bank's own investments. The number of accounts was 24,751 
and the total deposits at that time $8,202,167.94. There is a vast 
amount of work connected with such an advertisement, but it makes a 
correspondingly strong piece of publicity. 

AN INTENSIVE CAMPAIGN 

A special intensive advertising plan is described by the Mercantile 
Trust Company of St. Louis in this way: 

We have been using three local papers on a campaign for four of our 
departments, viz. : Safe Deposit, Trust, Savings and Corporation Departments. 

We have been running four ads. per day in each of these papers, and will 
continue to do so for a month. Each copy is changed every day. We believe 
that this is the most extensive local campaign ever carried on by a St. Louis 
financial institution. 

At the same time that these ads, are appearing, we are sending out a large 
amount of letters, circulars and booklets to selected lists. 

A COMBINATION CIRCULAR 

The Bank of Coney Island, New York City, used a combination 
letterhead, statement folder and advertising circular. The cashier 
said of it: 

This is not our stationery, but a form of advertising we are using at present. 
We write some rather short, direct personal letters, signed individually, to the 
people in our neighborhood whom we would like to have as depositors, and fol- 
low these letters with pointed facts on our facilities. 

OCCUPATIONAL ADVERTISING 

When you address an advertisement to any particular class in the 
community you will not only reach most of them, but you will also get 
the attention and interest of others because of that curiosity which we 
all have. 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK -ADVERTISING IDEAS 373 







Occupational appeals 



GREETING TO NEW DEPOSITORS 

The Cleveland, 0., Trust Company gives new depositors a booklet 
with this personal word of introduction and greeting : 

We thank you for opening an account with the Cleveland Trust Company. 
You have now become in a sense identified with our organization. Your wants 
are entitled to the courteous attention of our officers and employes. We are 
here to serve you. In return we ask your friendly co-operation in increasing the 
number of our customers. If we please you, may we not hope to see you bring 
your friends to your bank? 

A BANK CLUB 

The Mid-West Bank of Sioux City, Iowa, has organized the Mid- 
West Club among the friends and customers of the bank, the object 



374 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

being, as the president states it, "to help its members. To be their city 
agent — at their call night or day, should doctor, nurse, anything be 
desired. Our bank — their check and rest room, with every conveni- 
ence for their comfort. To give them the advantage of co-operative 
buying. No entrance fee, dues or expenses. You may use the club 
when and as you please. Just know it is here, ready for you. As its 
membership increases, its benefits will increase." 

LADIES ' REST ROOM 

The Second National Bank of Meyersdale, Pa., advertises that 
"Just inside our entrance is a room for the especial comfort and 
convenience of our lady customers. As ladies have proved themselves 
shrewd buyers, they can greatly aid themselves by having a bank 
account of their own. ' ' 

PUBLIC CONVENIENCES 

The Bay State Trust Company of Boston advertises this special 
service : 

In addition to complete banking facilities, the following conveniences are at 
the disposal of our customers: Boston News Bureau (hourly bulletins) ; Real 
Estate Atlas, City of Boston; Government Weather Report; Barometer; Time 
Tables; U. S. Mail Box; Public Telephone (free) ; Reading and Writing Rooms 
for Ladies; Checking of Bundles; Public Carriage Stand and Taxi Service; Blue 
Book, Atlases and Directories; Messenger Service (District). Quotations on 
stocks, bonds and real estate trust stocks. 

A FLOWER BOOKLET 

At the season of the year when garden making occupies the atten- 
tion of a great many people in the smaller communities and in the 
suburbs of the larger ones anything giving help or suggestions along 
this line is eagerly read by those who find pleasure and profit in raising 
flowers, fruits and vegetables. The Citizens Savings & Trust Com- 
pany of Cleveland issues a booklet, "Growth," which illustrates in 
natural colors the monthly combination effects of hardy flowers and 
explains their care and growth. The booklet points the moral that an 
account in its savings department will form the nucleus of a fund 
which will grow to substantial proportions. Attention is also called 
to the uninterrupted growth of the institution. 

A CONSULTING BUREAU 

The Northern Trust Company Bank of Chicago features a special 
department as follows: 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 375 

km/ 




M»j 



P Quires,. m 

" J "fc and It?"™ tartu,,, M o 

■A. M ri. ,aj Se IllT" * A. M :. e p °stoffice ,n 




No. 2 









Tetters 



Receiving ^^5ste5^ ! SS , » 

«^rM.-»'^« hu ' ceo ;.; *.po.uo, - -asisff"" 






Paying 
Tellers 



foonev ^rt^catioo or J^\ 7 000.000 a day. d 
tfueraUo handles^ charge rf^ The 

coin paid out ^ting mass 

w ays. sometimes am Q House 

««% transit - »°«Uvng *^°° £*£ 






DU ,T I to this ow*. c ountT ■*» • -■ -ho are 
**£, SS3 6 *? "£. .V.. »«.*•.*. «o.k. hU .count 






,, « n ;{,.'Ji* m^ th» l * 0, 

"'""* i shawms Bank 







WLa,5V e ^ to 



a -»^SEa£KEaSS»« 



Atonal Shawmut Bank 



Inside story of a great bank 



In this bank EVERYBODY is made to feel at home. The officers are 
always accessible, ready and glad to give careful attention to anybody's needs — 
however small. 

A special consulting bureau has been established, in charge of a competent 
man, to whom any person may apply for dependable information and counsel 
regarding the care and investing of money. The services of this bureau are freely 
offered to YOU, whether a customer of this bank or not. You incur no obliga- 
tion whatever. 



376 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

HOUSE-BUILDING PLANS 

For the benefit of those interested in owning their own homes, the 
Worcester County (Mass.) Institution for Savings made an extensive 
collection of drawings and plans of inexpensive detached houses that 
cost, at that time, from $1,500 to $3,000 to build. Persons interested 
in building attractive detached houses for a home for themselves and 
their families are invited to avail themselves of these plans. 

While the bank is prepared to make mortgage loans upon houses, 



We Really Want to 

Help You-Mr. Farmer 

In solving your financial problems. We believe that you need us and 
we need you. 

If you need money to finance your farm come to us and let us 
talk it over. We are in a position to aid you if you are the right 
sort who will do your share in increasing your crops, keep your farm 
machinery from rusting and making progress in your work. 

A banker is a friend to the business farmer and will willingly 
help him to tide over any little financial troubles. 

If you want to buy additional live stock, increase your acreage 
with staple crops or invest in modern machinery, we can help you 
knowing that if you are alive to modern methods you will not fail. 

Come and visit our bank and get acquainted whether you want 
a loan or advice. 

The Union National Bank 

Gay and Commerce. 
H. M. Johnston, Pres't- W. O. Whittle, Cashier. 

W. L. Russell, V. P. W. S. McKinney, Asst. Cash. 



Banker-farmer co-operation 

the use of the plans implies no obligation toward the institution. 
These plans have been collected and are offered to the public by the 
bank for the sole purpose of encouraging better conditions by which 
the whole community will benefit. 

SENDING FOR DEPOSITS 

A large Boston institution which is not situated right in the heart 
of the business section advertises to send for deposits. This is quite 
an advanced method of doing business, and we imagine could not be 
done successfully as a general thing. But it is a good talking point 
for an old, conservative institution to use. 

THE INSIDE WORKINGS OF THE BANK 

The author of the advertisements of the National Shawmut Bank 
says in regard to them that the idea was to produce a series of ad- 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 377 

vertisements which was educational and at the same time would em- 
phasize the service of the bank. It was determined to have a headline 
which would arouse as much curiosity as possible without being too 
radical, to be followed b}' statements of facts sufficiently newsy to 
prevent any disappointment after reading the headline. 

It was thought best to invent another display line which would 
stimulate further interest and cause the remaining display matter to be 
read, as it was necessary to impress the last two paragraphs upon the 
reader before letting him get away. It was here that the service side 
of the bank was emphasized. 

The last paragraph was repeated in each ad. to impress upon the 
reader the spirit of the officers of the bank toward depositors, and to 
overcome the common idea that a large bank does not care for small 
accounts. 

The numbers were put in the left-hand margin, indicating that a 
series was in progress, to arouse cumulative interest. 

GRAPHIC CHART OF DEPOSITS 

The National Bank of Commerce of Williamson, W. Va., got out a 
graphic chart showing its very satisfactory growth of deposits over a 
period of a year or more. It was arranged on a plan similar to that 
'mployed by the companies which issue charts showing market ten- 
dencies, stock prices, etc., by a rising and falling line, mostly rising 
in this case. 

HEART THROBS 

A large Southern bank got out a leaflet with the above title contain- 
ing extracts from letters (without using the writers' names) received 
from customers who wrote to the bank about some misfortune or good 
luck in connection with their finances. Here are brief samples : 

I herewith enclose bank book that belonged to my little boy. He died on 
August 10th last. He was an only child so I want to ask you to change his 
little account to his mother's name. 

I am hard to please but you pleased me by the way in which you have handled 
my affairs conducted through your bank. My first dealings with your bank 
were with your insurance department. My treatment there was so satisfactory 
that I soon used other of your departments. 

CARDS TO COLLECTION CLERKS 

The New Farley National Bank of Montgomery, Ala., has a regular 
illustrated series of postcards which it sends to the chief collection 
clerks of out-of-town banks from which it expects business. 



378 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 




Don't keep your money in an oven 



AN OBJECT LESSON 



A Passaic, N. J., woman secreted $400 in bills in an oven. After 
the money was burned she brought the ashes in a bottle to the Passaic 
Trust and Safe Deposit Company to see if she could recover anything. 
President R. J. Scoles had a photograph made of the bottle with its 
$400 worth of ashes and gives this account of the affair : 

Some time ago a Hungarian woman, a depositor in a small way, brought 
in to the officers of the company a parcel of ashes, which she stated was the 
remains of four hundred dollars that she had placed in the kitchen oven as a 
hiding place, the stove at the time being out of use. While she was on a visit to 
a neighbor's house, a boarder who did not know the secret, started a fire in the 
stove and the money was reduced to ashes. 

The loss was a total one from a fire and money point of view, and the loser 
is now a sad but enthusiastic supporter of banks as the proper place for all 
reserve cash. 

The ashes were placed in a bottle and photographed and will be used by the 
company as a display advertisement to serve as an object lesson to persons who 
are accustomed to do the same thing that this woman did. 

FARMERS 

That cordial advertisement of the Union National Bank of Knox- 
ville, Tenn., is typical of the banker-farmer co-operation which is in- 



! 

i 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 379 

creasingly evident. Naturally, advertising is an important factor in 
furthering this movement. 

Country bankers are going to help their farmers to produce more 
this year. Indeed, many of them believe that they will not do their 
full duty to their communities or contribute their full share toward 
winning the war unless they stand ready to extend financial assistance 
to worthy farmers in the communities they serve. 

One of the comparatively new things that every progressive farmer 
wants, and to secure which many farmers will need help from the 
bank, is the farm tractor. 

The farmers in the Northwest have been for some years making 
use of tractors with such satisfactory experience that they are now 
anxious to secure a large number of additional tractors, believing that 
in this way much greater crops can be cultivated and harvested than 
would otherwise be the case. The far western farmers report that the 
most suitable tractors are not the very large ones, but small ones that a 
lad in his teens can operate, and one tractor will do the work which 
would require eight or ten horses in a single day. 

The First National Bank of St. Paul, Minn., conducts prize corn- 
growing contests, with an autumn corn show in the lobby of the bank, 
the exhibits consisting of the best specimens of corn grown in the 
various counties of the states traversed by the Great Northern Railway. 
This bank also employs an agricultural expert to devote his entire 
time to farm business of this nature, and is constantly urging the 
bankers and farmers of the Northwest to co-operate in the effort to 
improve agricultural methods and thus increase the productivity of 
the farms, and eventually the freight and passenger income of his 
railroads. 

Country banks and bankers, North, South, East and West, are 
carrying out this idea of helpfulness in many ways, encouraging real 
thrift and better farming by organizing corn, tobacco or potato-grow- 
ing contests, distributing helpful literature, etc., according to the 
nature of the products of their region. 

The "Banker-Farmer" platform, as promulgated by the Agricul- 
tural Commission of the American Bankers Association, is as follows : 

Citizenship 

Co-operation 

Better Schools 

Better Roads 

Farm Demonstration 

Soil Fertility 

Better Tenancy Methods 

Community Building 

Farm, Home and Church 



380 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 



COMMERCIAL NEWS: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13,1909. 



AMERICAN NATIONAL BANK. 

At th*e annual meeting of t 
shareholders of the American r 
tlonal Be 

fe-elected ftj follows,/ 



(Louis &. Monteagle. W. H. Chiclie 
Jng. James McNab, P. B. "Bowl 
icrancls Cutting, Henry J. Croclt 
Geo. P. McNear and B. W. Wils< 
• * ms ■„j., | j a ») ' . esrs , i « . < 






aft.' 



1 flxtu 



from fur 

887.79, or more Iban fourteen per 
cent on the capital stock. During 
the year $65,000 was paid to the 
shareholders In dividends and $75,- 
887.79 was added to undivided pro- 
fits, which now stand at $231,376.73. 
Despite the poor business condi- 









sJightly 



I those of 1907, 
showing. 

The statement showing the condi- 
tion of the bank as of December 31, 
1908, ^t the close 



LIABILITIES. 



The board of directors organized 
and re-elected the following officers: 
P. E. Bowles, president: Francis Cut- 
ting, vice-president; E. W. W. Wil- 
son, vice-president; Geo. N. O'Brien, 
cashier; E. 'J. Broherg, assistant 
cashier. Russell Lowry was promo- 
ted to the position, of assistant cash- 



TIONAL HANK. 






4 ^"^duLCcc^L^ MuL 

j ^fjr* 4 ** 1 - off sob* 



fSa^J<^.- 



Showing how directors direct 

Rural Credits 

Marketing and Distribution 

C. J. ■Jamison, Agricultural Agent for Johnson County, Wyoming, 
says: 

There is a relationship between the banker and the farmer and there is a 
common ground where both may meet and appreciate each other. SERVICE 
is the bond of kinship, — the connection between the man on the land and his 
city co-worker, the banker. 

We believe that this is a good test for a bank's advertising to its 
farmer friends and that is the spirit of the advertisement of the Knox- 
ville bank which is reproduced. 

A Canadian bank advertises as follows: 

If you intend to take up Canada farm land you will find the services of our 
bank useful and profitable. Our various branches through the wheat country 
afford special facilities to newcomers and frequently save them annoyance and 
expense. Our local managers are always glad to meet settlers from the States 
and to render them any service within their power. Write to us to-day for in- 
formation regarding the Province you are interested in. We will be pleased to 
advise you, and will also send a very complete booklet concerning the Province. 



A very practical piece of advertising is a "Farmers' Account 
Book" put out by the Bank of Italy, San Francisco, which has 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 381 

branches in sixteen places throughout California. It is a 32-page 
book with pages of regular ledger size and it is bound in manila paper 
in imitation of leather. It contains valuable material for the farmer, 
dairyman and fruit-raiser, and there is just enough bank talk on the 
inside covers and flyleaves. 

Some banks give their farmer depositors a 64-page cost system book 
bearing considerable advertising matter of the bank. The book, as 
used by the First State Bank of Philbrook, Mont., provides space for a 
complete record of farm work — 64 pages properly ruled for every farm 
department. By consulting this book, the farmer knows just how he 
stands at any moment, where he is losing and where gaining. And it 
is a continual reminder of the bank. 

SIGNED ADVERTISEMENTS 

It is becoming increasingly common for banks to run signed adver- 
tisements, that is, advertisements having the name of the president or 
other officer at the bottom. Sometimes a signature cut is used repro- 
ducing the exact handwriting of the officer. Undoubtedly this adds 
interest and effectiveness to the advertising. 

MENTIONING OFFICERS 

It is rarely that a bank in its advertising calls attention to its 
officers. Usually when anything like that is done, it is the directors 
that come in for the publicity 7 . The Northwestern National Bank, 
Minneapolis, Minn., however, does this cleverly in the following para- 
graph : 

The names of the officers of the Northwestern seldom appear in its advertis- 
ing, but now and then they are printed in order that they may be associated 
more closely in the minds of readers with the name of the institution. They are 
given below. The business and personal characteristics of the Northwestern man- 
agement have developed a distinctive character for the bank. 

FIRST-OF-THE-MONTH FOLDERS 

Many banks using the monthly adding machine customers' state- 
ment system take advertising advantage of the fact that they are send- 
ing depositors something on the first of the month. They print little 
folders about the size of the checks to be returned with the statements 
and enclose the checks therein. The folders contain information and 
timely suggestions concerning the service of the bank. 

ADVERTISING BIG CREATIVE FORCE 

"Like every other basic element in our existence, advertising has 
undergone changes and has caught the spirit of the dawning era of a 



382 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 

new peace. It has been quickened into a new life ; it has acquired 
new potentialities. Never before has it exerted such influence over the 
minds and hearts of mankind. It has reached and stirred our souls 
to the sublimest sacrifices. 

"It matters not that this power resulted from the most intense 
emotional period in the world's history and that it was due chiefly 
to patriotic fervor, for advertising was largely instrumental in creating 
the very emotion and patriotism from which it gained its greatest 
strength of appeal. Each reacted upon the others ; each developed the 
others. And for the first time, advertising sounded the depths of 
human nature. It penetrated to the elemental in human nature. 

"That is the paramount lesson, as it was the paramount achieve- 
ment, of advertising during the war. That is the foundation upon 
which advertising must work in building the business of the future. 
That is the basic truth of which we must not lose sight. ' ' — Francis H. 
Sisson. 

BUILDING BIGGER BUSINESS 

' ' Building present business into bigger business is one of the ways 
to insure permanence and healthy growth. The bank or the plant 
that is not increasing its length and breadth of branch and root is not 
growing healthily ; it is in danger of decay. Every customer of your 
bank is a part of your bank, and if every customer's business has a 
healthy growth, your bank's growth will be healthy and inevitable. 
You can make your average customer's business grow by advertising 
your helpfulness to him and by being as helpful as you profess. If 
your bank has a varied service, you can increase your average cus- 
tomer's business by advertising to him the departments of service he 
is not now using, inducing him to broaden his custom to conform with 
your broader service. Some of the most successful bank advertising 
has been of this sort — making the customers of one department ac- 
quainted with the services of another." — Edwin Bird Wilson. 

ABOUT ILLUSTRATIONS 

"Many good ideas for illustrations can be drawn from the subject 
of checking accounts and their numerous advantages. The subject of 
interest paid on accounts is a fruitful source from which to draw 
inspiration for illustrations. I have illustrated the strength and sta- 
bility of a bank with a giant California redwood tree, a 42 centimeter 
gun, a British tank, a great fortress, the pyramids of Egypt, with the 
giant figures of Atlas, Hercules and Samson, with a great bridge 
and with a huge endless chain." — C. R. Stuart. 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 383 

PRACTICAL ADVERTISING 

"It would be much easier to convert banks to the policy of practical 
advertising if banks realized that they are all advertising, whether 
they called it by this name or not. True, not all banks maintain 
publicity departments, not all banks use the generally accepted 
mediums of bank advertising, perhaps very few banks use the service 
of an agency, and some banks never heard of the Financial Advertisers' 
Association, but the banker at Marked Tree, Arkansas, who slaps 
Farmer Jones on the back and asks about the 'old lady' is advertising 
in his own way, just as the Wall Street banker advertises in his own 
way when he gets out a pamphlet on the Federal Farm Loan Act and 
sends it to the Milan Banking Company with his compliments." — 
M . E. Holderness. 

CHEERY COPY 

Savings bank copy must be cheery copy. It must appeal to the 
ambitious and hopeful side of human nature. It must depart from 
the formal, lugubrious, beware-ye copy that is so frequently used by 
savings banks in their appeals to a spendthrift public. How often do 
we see diagrams portraying such doleful facts as that only four men 
who are twenty-five today will be in independent circumstances when 
they reach sixty-five } 7 ears of age. The natural optimism of human 
nature forbids that such arguments shall have a deep appeal. Prove 
to the average healthy man by irrefutable statistics that nine hundred 
ninety-nine men of his class out of each thousand will be in the poor 
house at sixtj-five, and still, unless that man be in the doldrums on ac- 
count of a "hangover" or a quarrel with his wife, he will proceed 
confidently and serenely on his way, in the innate disbelief that he, 
John Doe, being now of sound mind and ample funds, can possibly be 
among the nine hundred ninety-nine. — John G. Lonsdale. 

DIGNITY IN ADVERTISING 

"I am not going to bore you with the customary dissertation on 
technical details of bank advertising. As a loyal Clevelander I may 
perhaps be pardoned for saying here that Cleveland has always been 
the leader and pioneer in progressive bank advertising. The news- 
papers are freely used, space in street cars is utilized, handsome book- 
lets, pamphlets, folders, mailing cards, blotters are used in profusion, 
and letters inviting business are sent out systematically to various 
lists of people. 

"In this matter of general publicity and direct advertising, the 
methods pursued are practically identical with those used by our 
retail houses and it is not necessary for me to take your time in 



384 MacGREGOR'S BOOK OF BANK ADVERTISING 



BOOKS ARE NOW OPEN TO 
RECEIVE SUBSCRIPTIONS: 

THE ATEAIIIC TRUST "COMPANY 

l/SOUTM STREET, FACING REDWOOD 

(Building formerly occupied by tie First, National Bank). 

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 

Capital and Surplus, over One Million Dollars ' 

To.be organized to supply additional hanking facilities demanded by "Baltimore's 
immediate requirements and future development... . 

TAe Demand Baltimore is in urgent need of additional banking resources, a fact recognized by local 

merchants, manufacturers, exporters and others who require legitimate banking accom- 
modations. Banking resources per capita are far below the average for a city the aifceof 
Baltimore. 

The Opportunity Tb- e Atlantic Trust Company is being organized in response to an insistent demand for 
increased banking resources and will contribute materially to the city's commercial and 
industrial progress. Original subscribers to the Company's shares will not only be a 
factor in" this development, but will. receive the maximum benefits from the Company's 
growth 

The Return Statistics show that net profits upon stocks of American Trust Companies, purchased., 

at organization, have proved greater than net profits from other classes of investments. - 
The safety of such investments is a demonstrated fact. 

in advance of the granting of the charter, applications for more than $725,000 
of the stock of the Company have been received. 

ORGANIZA TION—MANAOEMEN T— LOCATION 

President Eugene L. Norton, until recently President with established records of success in widely diversified and im- 
'"" of The Equitable Trust Company of Balti- portant affairs. Such a board can be implleitlyralied upon to 

I head the new institution. Tie inception, unprecedented carry out the principles upon which The Atlantic Trust Company 



growth and success of that company must be attributed in large is founded, 
measure to Mr. Norton. His broad vision, progressiveness in de- 
velopment and extension work, liberality and enterprise in admin- <?j_r* TKo ca.ff „f »!,. r^,r„„»»., »,». k«™ _i—.—i 
istmtion, combined with his conservatism and prudence in fiflan- Staff Bt l£f Z^L °?™ P "%^^M^ 
cial management, have been fully demonstrated^ his record. ^ open m ^ ^ \ %£%$£& Jt, ffiSS 

which for courtesy; efficiency and ability will compare favorably 

Other Tne Vice-Presidents, Secretary and Treasurer with that ol any banking institution in the countrv- 

_ will be men of wide experience, high standing 

Officials and recognized ability. Each of these of ficers . ,. _. ,., „. m , _ . . , . ..„ 

has been chosen only after the most careful Location ?*» Atlantic. Trust Company's building is- 

consideration. Each will bring to The Atlantic Trust Company a , . , .... located in the vejy canto of the bankin.g,and 

record of success and accomplishment in the special branch which financial distnot, and is admirably adapted for the transaction of - 

he will supervise. " trust company business. . 

Tiirectnratb The Company's directors, the special repre- LetalitV All legal matters in connection with ttie organ- 

sentatives of the Stockholders, are men -"A" . -« ; i ,,. 

inspire- the highest measure of public confidence and appro. 
The Company. is indeed fortunate in securing the services of i 



sentatives of the Stockholders, are men who iiatioa of The Atlantic Trust Company have 

inspire the highest measure of public confidence and approval. been passed upon by Messrs. flemmes, Bowen & Semmos, of this, 



The shared of The Atlantic Trust Company. are now offered for public subscription* It is the earnest desire 
of the management that the original shares of the Company shall be placed among one -thousand or more investors 
so that every class, every business and every section may have a direct interest in the Compar 

The investor who subscribes $100 for one share ef stock will be welcome, as well as the larger subscriber. 

The price is $100 per share ($50 to be applied to. capital and $50 to surplus). The paid-in surplus places the 
Company immediately in the same financial position as an old-established institution with an earned surplus equal 
to its capital. The actual value of the stock at the time of issue will.be exactly equal to. its cost, that is, $100 per 
share. 

All subscriptions are at the same price and on the same basis and no commissions will be paid to anyone for 
the placing of the stock. Every dollar subscribed goes directly into the Company's treasury, under the super- 
vision of tire State" Bank Examiner 

The management reserves the right to reject any subscription, to allot reduced amounts and to accept suW 
scriptions in excess of One Million Dollars, if deemed desirable. 

The price is $100 per share— par value $50, paid-in surplus $S0 

Application Will Be Made to List This. Stock on the Baltimore Stock Exchange. 

ORGANIZATION OFFICE 

THE ATLANTIC TRUST COMPANY 

17 SOUTH STREET, FACING REDWOOD 
1 Telephone St. Paul 27S0 - BALTIMORE, M0. 



Advertising the Organization of a New Institution 



MISCELLANEOUS BANK ADVERTISING IDEAS 385 

elaborating upon this phase of the situation. I do want, however, to 
bring out the point very strongly that all financial advertisements must 
be dignified, and I claim that it is possible to have dignified advertise- 
ments with the proper business-pulling qualities. Professor Paul T. 
Cherington of Harvard University, of whom you all know as perhaps 
the greatest theoretical authority on advertising, recentty awarded 
first place to the advertising of a financial institution in a test which 
he made of the advertising of some twenty different lines of business, 
and the bank has always adhere to a conservative, dignified style. 

"Advertisements which are now being used by some banks, and 
which contain the combination of sensationalism with startling illus- 
trations are not only unproductive of desirable deposits but they un- 
dermine public confidence and are apt to bring ridicule upon the bank 
using this character of publicity." — Francis R. Morison. 

CONSIDER PUBLICITY SERIOUSLY 

"The banker — master analyst of the business world — is fully com- 
petent to meet the situation if he will but consider his institution from 
the viewpoint of the many to whom a bank is a sort of ogre's castle. 
The man who can successfully manage a bank is fully competent to 
place it in its true relation to the public. The prime requisite is that 
publicity be considered seriously, that it be given the same study, time 
and care that other major functions of the business receive. Ability 
must be transformed by determination into achievement." — Guy W. 
Cooke. 

INTENSIVE CULTIVATION 

"In the past, banks have failed to appreciate the importance of 
having those who are patrons of one department become patrons of 
other departments. In other words, banks have not tried to secure all 
of the business of any one of their patrons, allowing him to continue 
to keep his business divided up between two or more banks. For in- 
stance, a depositor in one bank is a renter of a safe deposit box in 
another bank, and a borrower in still a third bank. 

' ' It was a surprise to me to learn upon inquiry among a large num- 
ber of customers who have their business divided, that in nearly every 
case the only reason for such a division was because the customer's 
attention had never been called to the advantages of consolidating his 
business in one bank. 

"These facts indicate that the bank which suggests such an arrange- 
ment to its customers, which may be done through its direct advertis- 
ing, is sure to profit materially as a result of its recommendation." 
— W. R. Morehouse. 



INDEX 



Administration, p. 228 
Advertising agent, pp. 17, 18 
Advice, p. 371 
Anniversaries, pp. 342, 347, 369 

Banking by mail, pp. 137-142, 322, 323 

Bank's building, pp. 16, 357-360 

Billboards, pp. 29-34 

Bonds, pp. 268-293 

Booklets, pp. 46-48, 66, 67, 157 

Certificates of Deposit, pp. 90, 112, 

120, 312-314 
Charities, p. 207 

Checking accounts, pp. 53-118, 326 
Children, pp. 134, 135, 188, 348-352 
Christmas, p. 365 
Christmas clubs, pp. 142-147 
Circulation, pp. 24, 25 
Closed accounts, p. 325 
Collections, p. 377 

Commercial accounts, pp. 53-118, 325 
Community, The, pp. 73, 325, 340, 341 
Contests, pp. 265, 352-357 
Co-operative advertising, pp. 172, 270, 

293 
Copy, pp. 1-4, 17 
Courtesy, pp. 121, 363 
Credit, pp. 57-59, 315 
Customers, p. 335 
Customers' statements, p. 381 

Depositors, p. 363 
Direct advertising, pp. 294-331 
Directors, pp. 60, 61, 309, 310, 380 
Dormant accounts, p. 322 

Electric signs, pp. 34, 35 
Emblems, pp. 8, 62, 259-267 
Employees, pp. 332, 369 
Enthusiasm, pp. 6, 7 
Executor, pp. 202, 203 

Farmers, pp. 257, 303, 376, 378, 379 
Federal Reserve System, p. 324 
Floats, p. 366 

Foreign trade, pp. 65, 66, 122 
Fraudulent advertising, pp. 148.. 149 



Glossary, pp. 18-22 
Good will, p. 55 

Headings, pp. 3, 4, 67-69 
Heirs, pp. 210, 233 
History, pp. 3, 87, 342-348 
Holidays, pp. 364, 365 
Home banks, p. 136 
Hospitality, pp. 60, 69, 327 
Household budgets, p. 122 
House organs, pp. 48-51, 366 
Human interest, p. 364 

Illustrations, pp. 7, 8, 20, 382 
Industries, pp. 63, 70, 83, 93, 340, 341 
Insurance advertising, pp. 268-293 
Intensive advertising, p. 384 
Introduction card, p. 369 
Investments, pp. 225, 268-293 

Lawyers, p. 220 

Layouts, pp. 13, 14, 20 

Letters, pp. 294-331 

Life insurance, pp. 147, 148, 209, 285 

Lincoln, p. 180 

Living trusts, pp. 218, 228 

Loans, pp. 53, 54, 57-59, 315 

Lobby cards, p. 367 

Location, pp. 96, 357, 360, 361 

Magazines, pp. 24, 25 
Mailing lists, p. 294 
Manufacturers, p. 310 
Mediums, pp. 17, 23-52 
Movies, p. 42 

National advertising, pp. 18, 24, 234 

New accounts, p. 330 

New bank, p. 292 

New depositors, pp. 307, 373 

News, pp. 238, 240, 247, 249, 336-340 

Occupational advertising, pp. 372, 373 
Officers, pp. 367, 381 
Out-of-town business, p. 100 



Pay envelopes, pp. 136, 360, 361 
Parents, pp. 316, 317, 348-352 



387 



388 



INDEX 



Position, p. 17 

Posters, pp. 29-34 

Programs, pp. 51, 52 

Proofreading, pp. 13-15 

Property management, pp. 203-206, 230 

Railroad men, p. 318 

Real estate, pp. 268-293 

Safe deposit, pp. 235-258 

Safekeeping of securities, pp. 200-202, 

224, 245 
Savings accounts, pp. 124-197 
Savings clubs, pp. 142-147 
School savings banks, pp. 135, 136 
Simplicity, pp. 5, 6 
Solicitation, pp. 203, 371 
Space, p. 2 
Statements, p. 371 
Stockholders, pp. 308, 309, 333 



Street cars, pp. 26-29, 164 

Trade acceptances, pp. 63-65, 122 

Trade-marks, pp. 8, 62, 259-267 

Travelers, p. 256 

Trustee, p. 217 

Trust services, pp. 198-234 

Typography, pp. 9-13 

Voluntary trusts, pp. 200, 218, 228 

Wills, pp. 199, 202, 203, 324 
Windows, pp. 35-41 
Wives, p. 213 
Women, pp. 80, 320, 321, 374 

Young men, p. 133 



